The effect of cardamom supplementation on serum lipids, glycemic indices and blood pressure in overweight and obese pre-diabetic women: a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Spice consumption helps the treatment of diseases due to their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory contents. Cardamom is one of this spices; therefore, this study is designed to determine the effect of cardamom supplementation on serum lipids, glycemic indices, and blood pressure in pre-diabetic women. METHODS: Eighty overweight or obese pre-diabetic women were randomly allocated to two groups. The intervention group received 3 g of green cardamom and the placebo group received 3 g of rusk powder for 2 months. The physical activity level, dietary intake, anthropometric measurements, Blood pressure, fasting blood sugar (FBS), triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein (HDL-C), insulin, body mass index (BMI), insulin resistance, and insulin sensitivity were measured before and after intervention. RESULTS: After intervention, mean TC (p = 0.02) and LDL-C (p = 0.01) significantly decreased and insulin sensitivity (p = 0.03) increased in the cardamom group. In the control group, mean HDL-C (p = 0.02) significantly decreased after the study. We observed no significant decrease in systolic and diastolic blood pressure, glycemic indices, and serum lipids values in the cardamom group compared to the placebo group. CONCLUSIONS: Green cardamom supplementation may have a protective effect on HDL-C level in pre-diabetic subjects. It improves some blood parameters in these subjects; however, its effects are not different from placebo. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials, IRCT2014060817254N2. Registered 2 September 2014.