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).