Long-term garlic or micronutrient supplementation, but not anti-Helicobacter pylori therapy, increases serum folate or glutathione without affecting serum vitamin B-12 or homocysteine in a rural Chinese population

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Glutathione in this randomized controlled trial publication.

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, factorial trial was conducted to compare the ability of 3 treatments to retard the development of precancerous gastric lesions in 3411 subjects.

Why It Was Studied

The treatments were: 1) anti-H. pylori treatment with amoxicillin and omeprazole; 2) 7.3-y supplementation with aged garlic and steam-distilled garlic oil; and 3) 7.3-y supplementation with vitamin C, vitamin E, and selenium.

Thirty-four subjects were randomly selected from each of the 12 treatment strata.

Who Took Part

The study group was 3411 subjects.

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

All 3 treatments were given in a 2(3) factorial design to subjects seropositive for H. pylori infection; only the garlic supplement and vitamin and selenium supplement were given in a 2(2) factorial design to the other subjects.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study.

The subjects were allocated by chance, so the Glutathione group and the comparison group should start out alike.

Neither the subjects nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Glutathione, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

Some subjects received a placebo instead of Glutathione, giving a reference point.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Amoxicillin, Anti-Bacterial Agents, Anti-Ulcer Agents, Asian People, Dietary Supplements, Folic Acid and Garlic.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Glutathione in 3411 subjects.

With several hundred people or more, it is a fairly large study for this kind of research.

The publication is from 2009 (The Journal of nutrition), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Glutathione compound page, all human trials.