Study: MASTIC GUM and IBD

In short: This page summarises a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study that investigated Chios mastic in patients with IBD — looking at IL-17A (an inflammation-related marker) and the faecal metabolome. This is a research summary, not a health claim.

The study

Dysregulation of the intestinal immune response plays a key role in IBD. In this study, the authors set out to investigate the regulatory effect of Chios mastic on serum IL-17A levels in IBD patients, and explored changes in the faecal metabolome as a readout of microbial activity. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group design was used for 3 months in active disease and 6 months in inactive disease.

In inactive patients, serum IL-17A increased significantly in the mastic group (p = 0.006), and the mean change differed significantly between mastic and placebo (p = 0.003), even after adjusting for age, sex and BMI (p = 0.001). In inactive ulcerative-colitis patients, IL-17A decreased significantly only in the placebo group (p = 0.033). No significant differences were seen in active disease. Faecal metabolomics indicated that mastic notably influenced the metabolic profile of patients in remission — including increased levels of glycine and tryptophan.

The authors note that glycine has been proposed to have a therapeutic role in IBD, and tryptophan derivatives are involved in immunoregulatory mechanisms such as Th17-cell differentiation — so mastic’s role in quiescent IBD may involve the regulation of Th17-cell function. You can read the full study here.

Summary