The effects of gum arabic oral treatment on the metabolic profile of chronic renal failure patients under regular haemodialysis in Central Sudan

Abstract

This study aimed at assessing the effect of gum arabic (Acacia senegal) oral treatment on the metabolic profile of chronic renal failure (CRF) patients. A total of 36 CRF patients (under regular haemodialysis) and 10 normal subjects participated in this study. The patients were randomly allocated into three groups-group A: 12 CRF patients under low-protein diet (LPD) (<40 g day(-1)) and gum arabic (50 g day(-1)) treatment; group B: 14 CRF patients under LPD and gum arabic, iron (ferrous sulphate, 200 mg day(-1)) and folic acid (5 mg day(-1)) treatment; group C (control group): 10 CRF patients under LPD and iron and folic acid treatment and group D: 10 normal volunteers (on normal diet) under daily dose of 50 g gum arabic. Each of the above treatments was continued for three consecutive months. Blood samples were collected from each subject before treatment and twice per month "pre-dialysis" for 3 months. Biochemical parameters measured were: serum urea, serum creatinine, serum uric acid, serum calcium and serum phosphorus. By the end of the 3 months of treatment, serum urea levels significantly decreased by 31.2 and 44.18% for group A and B, respectively, compared with the baseline (0.01 < p < 0.001) and control group (p < 0.05). Serum creatinine levels significantly decreased in the groups of gum users (A, B and D) by 9.94, 12.65 and 11.7%, respectively, compared with the control group (p < 0.001). There was a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in serum uric acid levels by 14 and 19.9% for group A and B, respectively, compared with the baseline. Serum calcium levels increased by 12.64, 15.75 and 8.75% for group A, B and D, respectively, and these increases were significantly different (0.05 < p < 0.001) from baseline and control group for groups A and B. Serum phosphorus levels significantly decreased by 22.54% for group A, 17.69% for group B and 7.71% for group D, compared with the baseline (0.05 < p < 0.001). From this study, we conclude that oral administration of gum arabic could conceivably alleviate adverse effects of CRF.

Gum Acacia Improves Renal Function and Ameliorates Systemic Inflammation, Oxidative and Nitrosative Stress in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetes in Rats with Adenine-Induced Chronic Kidney Disease

“…Previous results obtained by us, and by others [26] have confirmed the beneficial effects of the novel prebiotic GA in CKD in human CKD patients [22, 23], and in rats with adenine – induced CKD [29], but not rats subjected to 5/6 nephrectomy [37]. …”

“…Since the first report about the usefulness of GA in patients with CKD [22], several experimental and clinical publications have confirmed the salutary actions of GA in CKD [23-26]. GA has also been reported to be useful in mice with diabetic nephropathy [26] and in alloxan – induced diabetes in rats [27].…”

Gum Arabic: More Than an Edible Emulsifier

“…Additionally, recent studies have highlighted GA antioxidant properties (Trommer & Neubert, 2005;Ali & Al Moundhri, 2006;Hinson et al, 2004), its role in the metabolism of lipids (Tiss et al, 2001, Evans et al, 1992, its positive results when being used in treatments for several degenerative diseases such as kidney failure (Matsumoto et al, 2006;Bliss et al, 1996;Ali et al, 2008), cardiovascular (Glover et al, 2009) and gastrointestinal (Wapnir et al, 2008;Rehman et al, 2003).…”

Dietary Gum Arabic Supplementation Alter Plasma and Tissue Antioxidant and Free Radical Scavenging Activities in Sprague Dawley Male Rats

“…Although GA is widely used as a vehicle for drugs in physiological experiments and experimental pharmacology, and is assumed to be a substance '' inert ', recent reports have claimed that GA has anti-oxidant properties, and nephroprotectant other effects (Varani et al, 1985) (Bartold et al, 1984) and (Ali et al, 2008). Clinically, it has been tried in patients with chronic renal failure, and was said it helps reduce concentrations of urea and plasma creatinine and reduces the need dialysis 3-2 times per week (Suliman et al, 2003).…”