Effects of a food supplement rich in arginine in patients with smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis – A randomised trial

Summary In tuberculosis (TB), the production of nitric oxide (NO) is confirmed but its importance in host defense is debated. Our aim was to investigate whether a food supplement rich in arginine could enhance clinical improvement in TB patients by increased NO production. Smear positive TB patients...

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Published in:Tuberculosis (Edinburgh, Scotland) Scotland), 2011-09, Vol.91 (5), p.370-377
Main Authors: Schön, T, Idh, J, Westman, A, Elias, D, Abate, E, Diro, E, Moges, F, Kassu, A, Ayele, B, Forslund, T, Getachew, A, Britton, S, Stendahl, O, Sundqvist, T
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Antitubercular Agents - therapeutic use
Arachis hypogaea
Arginine
Arginine - pharmacology
Chemotherapy, Adjuvant
Dietary Supplements
Ethiopia - epidemiology
Female
HIV Infections - complications
HIV Infections - immunology
HIV Infections - therapy
Human immunodeficiency virus
Humans
Infectious Disease
Interleukin 10
Male
Malnutrition - diet therapy
Malnutrition - immunology
MEDICIN
MEDICINE
Mycobacterium
Nitric Oxide
Nutritional supplementation
Pulmonary/Respiratory
Radiography, Thoracic
Sputum
Treatment Outcome
Triticum aestivum
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, Pulmonary - complications
Tuberculosis, Pulmonary - immunology
Tuberculosis, Pulmonary - therapy
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Summary:Summary In tuberculosis (TB), the production of nitric oxide (NO) is confirmed but its importance in host defense is debated. Our aim was to investigate whether a food supplement rich in arginine could enhance clinical improvement in TB patients by increased NO production. Smear positive TB patients from Gondar, Ethiopia ( n  = 180) were randomized to a food supplementation rich in arginine (peanuts, equivalent to 1 g of arginine/day) or with a low arginine content (wheat crackers, locally called daboqolo) during four weeks. The primary outcome was cure rate according to the WHO classification and secondary outcomes were sputum smear conversion, weight gain, sedimentation rate, reduction of cough and chest X-ray improvement as well as levels of NO in urine (uNO) or exhaled air (eNO) at two months. There was no effect of the intervention on the primary outcome (OR 1.44, 95% CI: 0.69–3.0, p  = 0.39) or secondary outcomes. In the subgroup analysis according to HIV status, peanut supplemented HIV+/TB patients showed increased cure rate (83.8% (31/37) vs 53.1% (17/32), p  
ISSN:1472-9792
1873-281X
1873-281X
DOI:10.1016/j.tube.2011.06.002