| Summary: | <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>In vitro</it> and animal studies have demonstrated that <it>Chlorella</it> is a potent biological response modifier on immunity. However, there were no direct evidences for the effect of <it>Chlorella</it> supplementation on immune/inflammation response in healthy humans.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This study was designed for an 8-week randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial: 5g of <it>Chlorella</it> (n=23) or Placebo (n=28) as form of tablets. Mainly, cytotoxic activities of <it>Natural killer (NK)</it> cells and serum concentrations of interferon-γ, interleukin-1β and interleukin-12 were measured.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>After the 8-week, serum concentrations of interferon-γ (p<0.05) and interleukin-1β (p<0.001) significantly increased and that of interleukin-12 (p<0.1) tended to increase in the <it>Chlorella</it> group. The increments of these cytokines after the intervention were significantly bigger in the Chlorella group than those in the placebo group. In addition, <it>NK</it> cell activities (%) were significantly increased in <it>Chlorella</it> group, but not in Placebo group. The increments of <it>NK</it> cell activities (%) were also significantly bigger in the <it>Chlorella</it> group than the placebo group. Additionally, changed levels of <it>NK</it> cell activity were positively correlated with those of serum interleukin-1β (r=0.280, p=0.047) and interferon-γ (r=0.271, p<0.005). Signficantly positive correlations were also observed among the changed levels of serum cytokines; between interferon-γ and interleukin-1β (r=0.448, p<0.001), between interleukin-12 and interleukin-1β (r=0.416, p=0.003) and between interleukin-12 and interferon-γ (r=0.570, p<001).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results may suggest a beneficial immunostimulatory effect of short-term <it>Chlorella</it> supplementation which enhances the <it>NK</it> cell activity and produces interferon-γ and interleukin-12 as well as interleukin-1β, the Th-1 cell-induced cytokines in healthy people.</p>
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