Personalised supplements, based on a blood test and tailored to you

Introduction

‍The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of personalized correction of violations of fat metabolism when using an individually prescribed vitamin and mineral complex.

Methods‍

The study included 313 volunteers who belong to the category of "practically healthy people" and do not have a severe chronic pathology. All participants in the study were randomly assigned to the main group (n = 197) and the comparison group (n = 116). At the first stage, the state of blood lipid metabolism was evaluated in the representatives of both formed groups, and the laboratory examination complex included: determination of the total cholesterol concentration, the concentration of low- and high-density cholesterol, and the level of triglycerides. Patients of the main group were additionally monitored for the level of blood trace elements and a wide range of biochemical parameters. Taking into account the results of the latter, the composition of the vitamin and mineral complex was individually selected for them. The duration of its daily intake for all members of the main group was 60 days. Patients in the comparison group received a placebo for a similar time period.

Result & Conclusion

‍The study of the effectiveness of the personalized vitamin and mineral complex allowed us to demonstrate the positive effect of daily intake (for 2 months) on the parameters of blood lipid metabolism. It was manifested in a decrease in the total concentration of cholesterol, which was mainly provided by a decrease in the level of cholesterol contained in low-density.

Introduction‍

Iron deficiency is one of the most common problems of the population of large cities [1, 2, 5]. Numerous epidemiological studies indicate, on the one hand,a sufficiently high frequency of iron deficiency anemiaand associated pathological conditions [1–3] and, onthe other hand, indicate a significant proportion ofpersons with subclinical manifestations of metabolicdisorders of this trace element [6]. Thus, according tothe results of our previous studies, up to 27% of theadult population of the metropolis have either fullfledged or subclinical (at the level of the lower quartile)serum iron deficiency [4]. These facts clearly indicatethe feasibility of targeted detection and personalizedcorrection of iron deficiency. In this regard, the aim ofthe work was to study the effect of individually formedvitamin and mineral complex is containing iron on themetabolism of this trace element.

Methods‍

The study was designed as an open prospective, randomized controlled trial. It included 314 people belonging to the category of practically healthy people. The inclusion criteria were the age from 20 to 50 years, the absence of acute or chronic in the acute stage of pathology, as well as the presence of subclinical or clinical serum iron deficiency. All participants in the study signed informed consent prior to the initial survey. Further, the examined persons were randomized into 2 groups: the main group (n=116), representatives of which received a vitamin and mineral complex containing the necessary amount of iron (the dose was calculated based on the results of the initial laboratory examination of the patient), and the comparison group (n=198), which received a similar complex, the only difference of which was the absence of an iron-containing component. The duration of reception of the complex was 30 days. Prior to administration of the complex and immediately upon completion of the full course, the total iron concentration in the blood (in µg/l), serum iron level (in µmol/l) and ferritin content in the blood (in µg/l) were determined. All these parameters were evaluated by standard methods.

Results

‍It was found that the majority of the studied parameters in the second control point of observation did not change relative to the first one (Fig. 1–3). Thus, the total concentration of iron in the blood and its serum level remained at the initial values (Fig. 1 and 2), while the amount of the main iron-transport protein of the blood — ferritin — even showed a downward trend (-2.6%; p<0.1). On the contrary, the personalized correction of the metabolism of the microelement under consideration contributed to the increase of all the studied parameters (Fig. 1–3). In particular, there was an increase in the total concentration of iron in the blood by 13.4% compared with the baseline (p<0.05), exceeding the value characteristic of the comparison group by 10.0% (p<0.05). A similar dynamics was recorded for serum iron level (an increase of 16.8% relative to baseline values and 8.3% — to the comparison group (p<0.05 for both cases))

The changes in ferritin levels were significant too (Fig. 3). It was found that the concentration of this iron transport protein in the representatives of the main group increased by 5.1% compared to the first control point and by 7.7% - relative to the comparison group (p<0.05 for both cases)‍

Conclusion

‍Thus, the randomized controlled one-center study confirmed the positive effect of the course of personalized correction of iron metabolism on a number of its biochemical indicators (total iron level in the blood, serum concentration of this trace element and the amount of ferritin).

Introduction

Even at a session of the medical and biological Department of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences in 1975, it was discussed the allocation of a special group of compounds that can have a pronounced physiological effect in minimal quantities. They were combined under the name of biologically active substances [19, 24, 25]. At the same time, even a brief acquaintance with the chemical structure of food products suggests that they contain most of the groups of biologically active substances discussed at the mentioned session (alkaloids, hormones and hormone like compounds, vitamins, trace elements, biogenic amines, neurotransmitters, substances with pharmacological activity, etc.) [3-6, 9, 11, 15, 23].

However, the biological, physiological and regulatory activity of these substances is still not sufficiently taken into account by pharmacologists and doctors of various specialties. Moreover, many of the biologically active substances are present in food in equal and sometimes higher doses than the doses used in Russian Pharmacopoeia [23, 25]. On the other hand, many of them serve as the closest precursors of potent compounds that, when isolated from food, are the object of purely pharmacological research [2, 11, 19, 21, 23]. It is in this context, i.e. from the point of view of biologically significant impact of various food components on the course of metabolic processes in both healthy and diseased organisms, it is necessary to consider the role of the main micronutrients, taking into account a number of new information about the mechanisms of their therapeutic and preventive action [3, 4, 7-9].

It is well-known that in a healthy condition, trace elements constituting the living body are regulated and maintained their balance of each other and their range of physiological optimum concentration in order to maintain the normal vital functions [8, 9, 15]. Essential trace elements are in humans the chromium (Cr), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), fluorine (F), iodine (I), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), selenium (Se), zinc (Zn), and questionably the boron (B) and vanadium (V) [1, 8-10]. When the optimum conditions of their balance and their homeostasis, however, are broken down by deficiency or excess of certain trace element, an excess accumulation or deficiency of specified element is induced and it follows that peculiar disease is caused according to function of each specified element [10, 14-18]. Hence, one of the important tasks of micronutrientology is to substantiate, create and prevent the use of entire ensembles of functionally interconnected micronutrients of different nature and structure [4, 7, 13, 20, 21].

One of the least studied aspects of the potential therapeutic effect of biologically active substances and micronutrients is the analysis of their influence on the microelement status of the body. In this regard, The purpose of the work was to estimate the dynamics of blood trace elements under the use of personalized vitamin and mineral complex.

Materials and methods

The study aimed to the estimation of the effect of a personalized vitamin and mineral complex on the blood parameters of practically healthy people (n=252), first of all - on microelement homeostasis. Our study consists of two stages. On first stage we tested the plasma level of 23 trace elements. The average value and its standard deviation were calculated for each parameter. At the next stage, using the current standards of indicators for this certified laboratory, we divided the area of values into 6 ranges: below the norm, 1-4 quartiles of the norm, above the norm. Data was represented as a percentage for each of the selected ranges.

All data about blood trace elements were used for second stage of our study. In this stage we formed personal vitamin and mineral complex for all patients. The composition of this complex was selected individually based on the results of initial testing for those components that were present in deficient or pre-deficient concentrations in a particular patient.

Each of the surveyed individuals was taken twice to determine the concentration of trace elements (before the course and immediately after its completion). The duration of the course was fixed and was 30 days with a daily single admission. All patients were tested in the morning. The level of trace elements in peripheral blood was determined by atomic adsorption spectrometry using the Shimadzu AA7000 device (Japan).

Statistical processing was performed using the standard statistics method. Statistical analysis of the data was performed with Statistica 6.0 program. Data were expressed as means ± SE, the Student’s t-test was used for detection of statistical difference.

Study was approved with local bioethics committee. All persons in including in this study signed standard informed consent sheet.

Results

First stage of our study allowed to state the initial level of blood trace elements in healthy people. We fixed that significant part of our group of “healthy subjects” values has deviated from population reference intervals. For visualization of prevalence of these deviations in trace elements homeostasis we used quartile method. The quartile analysis of the microelement status of the population of the megalopolis made it possible to establish that the structure of their distribution differs significantly from the a priori assumed Gaussian distribution for a large number of indicators.

In addition, it is shown that a number of trace elements also have a deficit state. Thus, more than half of the surveyed individuals (55.3%) show a reduced concentration of copper, and another 14% of people on this indicator belong to the 1 quartile, showing a predeficit state (Fig. 1). This element, being a component of a number of enzymes, belongs to the category of biogenic, and also determines the need to correct its level.

A similar but significantly smoother structure was registered for the plasma level of zinc (Fig. 1). However, according to this parameter, a significant part of the population (7.7%) has hypozincemia, which can be considered as a pre-pathology

The study of the profile of other microelements in the blood of patients allowed us to establish that in many parameters there was a pre-deficit or deficit state. This especially included for concentrations of iron, copper, selenium, and zinc.

Taking into account the fact that these compounds are essential for the functioning of the body, they were included, if necessary, in the composition of the applied vitamin and mineral complex. That is why on second stage of our study we tested the efficiency of complex individual metabolic correction. Effect of this metabolic support was estimated after the month of daily administration of the complex. It was found that the course intake of the latter provides an increase in the concentration of iron in a month of daily use by 40.6%. The plasma copper level was elevated at 8.0% (p<0.05). We also observed positive dynamics for other trace elements. For example, plasma level of selenium was increased at 59.2% after personalized correction. The concentration of zinc was fixed in 119.5% to initial value (Fig. 2-3). It should be emphasized that all these shifts were statistically significant (p<0.05 for all parameters). These trends were fully comparable to the data obtained based on an assessment of the average individual deltas of patient parameter levels. It is important to underlined that most pronounced shifts were verified for persons with preliminary deficiency of these elements.

Conclusion

In whole, the study allowed us to demonstrate the presence of a deficit or pre-deficit state in the blood content of trace elements in the considered group of practically healthy people. The analysis of the effectiveness of the course individualized vitamin and mineral complex, has allowed to establish its beneficial effect on the metabolism of some trace elements. In this preliminary study we observed this tendency on the example of particularly iron, copper, selenium and zinc.