Original Article DOI 10.3349/ymj.2011.52.2.242 pISSN: 0513-5796, eISSN: 1976-2437 Yonsei Med J 52(2):242-248, 2011 Changes of Body Weight and Inflammatory Markers after 12-Week Intervention Trial: Results of a Double-Blind, Placebo-Control Pilot Study Nam-Seok Joo,1 Sang-Man Kim,2 Kwang-Min Kim,1 Chan-Won Kim,1 Bom-Taeck Kim,1 and Duck-Joo Lee1 1Department of Family Practice and Community Health, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon; 2Department of Family Medicine, CHA Biomedical Center, College of Medicine, CHA University, Seoul, Korea. Received: March 16, 2010 Revised: June 7, 2010 Accepted: June 10, 2010 Corresponding author: Dr. Duck-Joo Lee, Department of Family Practice and Community Health, Ajou University School of Medicine, San 5 Woncheon-dong, Yeongtong-gu, Suwon 443-749, Korea. Tel: 82-31-219-5309, Fax: 82-31-219-5218 E-mail: djleemd@msn.com ∙ The authors have no financial conflicts of interest. Purpose: Low grade inflammation is a well-known characteristic in obese sub- jects. We investigated body weight changes and inflammatory markers after 12- week intervention trial. Materials and Methods: Twenty-six obese subjects were enrolled and 19 (13 men and 6 women) completed the study. Sibutramine is an FDA-approved drug for body weight control; therefore, we chose this drug as the standard treatment medication in this study. Patients were randomly allocated to re- ceive an anti-inflammatory agent (Diacerein treatment group; n = 12) or placebo (n = 7) for 12 weeks. Anthropometry, body proportion by dual-energy X-ray absorpti- ometry, and metabolic parameters at the beginning and end of study were measured and compared. Results: The treatment group had a tendency towards more reduc- tion in anthropometry as compared to the placebo group, in body weight reduction (- 7.0 kg vs. - 4.6 kg), body mass index (- 2.51 kg/m2 vs. - 1.59 kg/m2), and waist circumference (- 7.3 cm vs. - 4.4 cm). These reductions were not statistically signif- icant. Changes in levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and adiponectin in the treatment group were more favorable than in the placebo group. Conclusion: This small pilot study showed no statistical difference for changes in anthropome- try, and inflammatory markers between the two groups. Therefore, we could not find any additional effects of Diacerein on weight loss and inflammatory variables in this study. Key Words: Inflammation, anti-inflammatory agent, adiponectin, TNF-α INTRODUCTION © Copyright: Yonsei University College of Medicine 2011 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non- Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non- commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. In Korea, the third National Health and Nutrition Survey in 2005 reported that the overall prevalence of adult obesity [defined as a body mass index (BMI) ≥ 25.0 kg/m2] was 31.7% (35.2% in men and 28.3% in women),1 which represents an in- crease from corresponding Figs. in 2001 (overall 29.6%, 31.2% in men and 27.9% in women). In Korea and elsewhere, obesity is a concern, as it heightens the risk of developing hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and cancers, and can cause pre- 242 Yonsei Med J http://www.eymj.org Volume 52 Number 2 March 2011