• Sahar Dehghani, Elham Alipoor, Ahmad Salimzadeh, Mehdi Yaseri, Mostafa Hosseini, Christine Feinle-Bisset, and Mohammad Javad Hosseinzadeh-Attar.
• Department of Nutrition and Biochemistry, School of Public Health, International Campus, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
• Phytomedicine. 2018 Sep 15; 48: 70-75.

BackgroundOsteoarthritis (OA) is a prevalent degenerative joint disease, which is associated with chronic and disabling pain. The adipocytokines, resistin and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), might play a role in OA pathogenesis and outcomes.PurposeThe aim of this study was, therefore, to assess the anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects of a garlic supplement on serum resistin and TNF-α concentrations and on pain severity in overweight or obese women with knee OA.Study DesignRandomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-design trial.MethodsIn this study, 80 post-menopausal overweight or obese women (25 ≤ BMI ≤ 40 kg/m2, age 50-75 years) with mild to moderate knee OA were enrolled. Patients were randomly divided into two groups to receive twice-daily either garlic tablets (total: 1000 mg) or placebo for 12 weeks. The primary outcome measures were fasting serum concentrations of resistin and TNF-α, and pain severity (assessed using 0-10 point visual analogue scale (VAS)).ResultsAt week 12, resistin concentrations were significantly decreased in the garlic group (6.41 ± 2.40 to 5.56 ± 2.16 ng/ml; P = 0.008). Serum TNF-α levels did not change significantly within or between the two groups. Pain scores were significantly reduced in the garlic (6.8 ± 2 to 5.3 ± 2.3; P = 0.002), but not in the placebo (6.7 ± 2.4 to 6.2 ± 2.5; P = 0.674), group. Pain scores were also significantly lower in the garlic, compared with the placebo, group following supplementation (5.3 ± 2.3 vs. 6.2 ± 2.5; P = 0.043).ConclusionsThe findings suggest that garlic supplementation for 12 weeks might reduce pain severity in overweight or obese women with knee OA, which may, at least in part, be mediated via a reduction in the pro-inflammatory adipocytokine, resistin.Copyright © 2018 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

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