The effects of preoperative supplementation with a combination of beta‐hydroxy‐beta‐methylbutyrate, arginine, and glutamine on inflammatory and hematological markers of patients with heart surgery: a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Cardiac surgery is associated with a widespread inflammatory response, by an additional release of free radicals. Due to the importance of these patient’s nutritional status, the present study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of supplementation with a combination of glutamine, β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate (HMB) and arginine in patients undergoing to the heart surgery. METHODS: The experiment was performed in 1 month (30 days) before cardiac surgery. patients were asked to take 2 sachets of Heallagen® (a combination of 7 g l-arginine, 7 g l-glutamine, and 1.5 g daily HMB) or placebo with identical appearance and taste (maltodextrin) with 120 cc of water. Clinical and biochemical factors were evaluated in the baseline and end of the study. RESULTS: Totally, 60 preoperative patients (30 interventions and 30 placeboes) with a mean age of 53.13 ± 14.35 years participated in the study. Subjects in Heallagen® group had a lower serum levels of interleukin-6 (P = 0.023), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (P < 0.01), high sensitivity C-reactive protein (P < 0.01), and lymphocyte number (P = 0.007) compared to the placebo, at end of the study. CONCLUSION: In the patients undergoing heart surgery, Heallagen® significantly improved some of the inflammatory factors and hematological parameters. These results need to be confirmed in a larger trial. Trial registration: The protocol of the study was registered in the IRCT.ir with registration no. IRCT20120913010826N31 at 13/10/2020.