Results
A total of 100 women enrolled and after checking for eligibility, 60
individuals entered the study. During the follow-up, eight participants
were excluded (one in the flaxseed group and seven in the control group)
due to personal reasons. Finally, 52 subjects (Flaxseed group n= 29 and
control group n=23) completed the trial (Fig.1-Flowchart of participants
through the study).
Baseline characteristics of participants are shown in (Table1). There
were no significant differences in height, weight, BMI, waist and hip
circumference of participants between flaxseed and control group at the
beginning of the study.
No significant differences were observed between the two groups in mean
daily intake of energy, protein, carbohydrate, fat, saturated fatty
acids (SFAs), polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), mono unsaturated
fatty acids (MUFAs), omega-6 fatty acids, at the beginning and the end
of study. However, the amount of ALA and dietary fiber intake increased
significantly in flaxseed group (P<0.001 and P=0.01
respectively). At the end of the study, ALA intake was significantly
different between the two groups (P<0.001) (Table 2).
As shown in Table 3, there was significant reductions in serum TG, TC,
and LDL-C in the flaxseed group after 12 weeks of the intervention
(P<0.001 for all), whereas no significant decrease was
observed in the control group. In addition, no significant changes were
observed in serum HDL-C within each group after 12 weeks.
There was no significant difference
in serum TC, TG, LDL-C, and HDL-C between the study groups at baseline
and at the end of study.
Moreover, weight, BMI, waist and hip circumference (P<0.001
for all) and WHR (P=0.003) decreased significantly in flaxseed group.
Just a significant decrease was observed in hip circumference of the
controls (P=0.004). Reduction of WC (P=0.001) and WHR (P=0.003) were
significantly more in flaxseed group compared to the controls. After the
follow up period, adiponectin concentration increased significantly in
flaxseed group (P<0.001) which was statistically significant
more than the controls (P=0.002). In addition, leptin concentration
decreased significantly only in the flaxseed group, but this reduction
was not statistically significant compared to the controls (P=0.29).