Metabolic outcomes of bergamot polyphenolic fraction administration in patients treated with second-generation antipsychotics: a pilot study

Low-Dose of Bergamot-Derived Polyphenolic Fraction (BPF) Did Not Improve Metabolic Parameters in Second Generation Antipsychotics-Treated Patients: Results from a 60-days Open-Label Study

“…Our previous results (Bruno et al, 2016) showing a significant reduction of body weight with BPF (1,000 mg/day) supplementation were not confirmed at lower doses; furthermore, our findings did not confirm the beneficial effect of low-dose BPF on lipid and glycemic profiles previously found in the literature (Mollace et al, 2011). In the attempt to explain such results, it should be borne in mind that the pharmacological mechanisms underlying the association of antipsychotics with metabolic disorders (Taylor and McAskill, 2000; Matsui-Sakata et al, 2005) may be different from the mechanisms responsible for MetS in patients who do not take this class of drugs.…”

“…Specifically, Mollace et al (2011) have demonstrated that BPF was effective already after the administration of 500 mg/day for 30 days, and that differences between 500 and 1,000 mg dosages were statistically significant only for high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. More recently, we tested the efficacy of BPF at the daily dose of 1,000 mg administered for 30 days in a sample of 15 outpatients treated with second generation antipsychotics (SGAs); our findings were encouraging, since BPF administration resulted in a statistically significant reduction of body weight ( P = 0.004) and in a trend for body mass index (BMI) decrease ( P = 0.005); however, no effects on metabolic parameters were observed (Bruno et al, 2016). …”

“…In a previous study, we found that a moderate BPF dose (1,000 mg) for 30 days significantly reduced body weight in SGAs-treated patients, suggesting that BPF could be an effective and safe agent to prevent weight gain associated with atypical antipsychotic use (Bruno et al, 2016). On the basis of such encouraging results, we had the aim to verify the potential use of low-dose BPF administered for a longer period.…”

Efficacy of bergamot: From anti‐inflammatory and anti‐oxidative mechanisms to clinical applications as preventive agent for cardiovascular morbidity, skin diseases, and mood alterations

“…In particular, two subsequent studies by Bruno et al tested two different doses. In the first study (daily dose of 1000 mg/day for 30 days) (Bruno, Pandolfo, Crucitti, Maisano, et al, 2017), the treatment produced a statistically significant reduction of body weight (p = 0.004), in addition to the body mass index decrease (p = <0.05). In the second study, (daily dose of 500 mg/day for 60 days) the treatment did not show significant result (Bruno, Pandolfo, Crucitti, Cacciola, Santoro, et al, 2017).…”

“…Although native to South-East Asia, 80% of bergamot is produced in Calabria, southern Italy, where it grows extensively. The main preparations used are bergamot extracts (BE), with high content of flavonoids, such as neoeriocitrin, neohesperidin, naringin (Toth et al, 2015), bergamot polyphenolic fraction (BPF) (Bruno, Pandolfo, Crucitti, Maisano, Zoccali, et al, 2017), bergamot essential oil (BEO) (Watanabe et al, 2015), and aromasticks with bergamot/sandalwood or frankincense/mandarin/lavender (Dyer, Cleary, McNeill, Ragsdale-Lowe, & Osland, 2016) bergamot/vetivert/geranium (Wiebe, 1998), bergamot/lavender/cedarwood (Graham, Browne, Cox, & Graham, 2003) and bergamot juice (BJ) (Impellizzeri et al, 2015), bergamot/boxthorn extract (Shao, 2003) or bergamot essential oil plus other citrus essential oils plus grapefruit juice (Li, Zhu, Han, & Zhang, 2016) or bergamot flavonoids and other phytoextracts (Babish et al, 2016;Saiyudthong & Marsden, 2011). Bergamot essential oil (BEO) and bergamot juice (BJ) contain up to 93-96% of volatile compounds, such as monoterpenes (25-53% of limonene), as well as discrete quantities of linalool (2-20%) and linalyl acetate (15-40%).…”