Zinc carnosine, a health food supplement that stabilises small bowel integrity and stimulates gut repair processes.
Level 2 - randomized trial
Individual randomized crossover trial in healthy human volunteers, accompanied by preclinical animal and cell models.
PubMed 16777920 · doi:10.1136/gut.2006.099929
What was done
Researchers evaluated zinc carnosine across in vitro assays (migration and proliferation in human colonic HT29, rat intestinal RIE, and canine kidney MDCK epithelial cells), in vivo rodent models (indomethacin/restraint gastric damage in rats and indomethacin small-intestinal damage in mice), and a clinical trial. The human study was a randomized crossover trial in 10 healthy volunteers comparing gut permeability via urinary lactulose:rhamnose ratios before and after 5 days of indomethacin (50 mg three times daily) coadministered with either zinc carnosine (37.5 mg twice daily) or placebo.
What was found
In vitro, zinc carnosine caused an approximate threefold increase in cell migration and proliferation (p < 0.01). In animal models, oral zinc carnosine reduced gastric injury by 75% at 5 mg/ml and reduced small-intestinal villus shortening by 50% at 40 mg/ml (both p < 0.01). In the human crossover trial, indomethacin with placebo increased the lactulose:rhamnose ratio from 0.35 (SEM 0.035) to 0.88 (SEM 0.11) (p < 0.01), whereas no significant increase in gut permeability occurred when zinc carnosine was coadministered.
Why it matters
This study provides mechanistic and preliminary clinical evidence that zinc carnosine can protect mucosal integrity and counteract NSAID-induced intestinal permeability increases.
Limits
The clinical evaluation was limited to a very small sample of 10 healthy volunteers exposed to short-term NSAID injury, leaving long-term efficacy, optimal dosing, and therapeutic effects in clinical populations with chronic gastrointestinal disease unassessed.
Cited by
- supports Zinc carnosine supports and improves the integrity of the gut lining.