Effects of the Oral Intake of Kaempferia parviflora Extract on Whole Body Fat and Skeletal Muscle Percentages in Japanese Women: Randomized Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Parallel Group Comparison Study

摘要

The effects of Kaempferia parviflora (called as black ginger), a plant used in the Kingdom of Thailand as a traditional medicine, on digestive disorders, fatigue, longevity and metabolic syndrome have been examined in details. However, most of these studies were performed on male human subjects and animals. In Japan, the number of individuals with "hidden obesity" has recently increased, particularly among young women. Therefore, proper health-related physical fitness needs to be established for young women using not only medicine, but also exercise and functional foods. The present study demonstrated the effects of the continual administration of black ginger extract (KPE) for 4 weeks on health-related physical fitness in young Japanese women. The body fat ratio of 20-29-year-old healthy Japanese women was safely reduced by the continual consumption of 50 mg KPE per day for four weeks, and the skeletal muscle ratio also increased. The chief doctor of the present study decided that there were not specific symptoms in this clinical practice.Thus, the continual administration of KPE by 20-29-year-old women is safe. These clinical results indicated that 20-29-year-old healthy women may safely consume food that includes 50 mg KPE per day continuously for four weeks, and that the decrease of body fat percentage and the reinforcement of skeletal muscle can be expected. This study is the first to evaluate the effects of a continual treatment with KPE on the relationship between the body fat ratio and skeletal muscle ratio in a randomized double-blind trial on adult Japanese women.