The hypolipidemic effect of Citrullus colocynthis on patients with hyperlipidemia

Citrullus colocynthis is one of the medical herbs that traditionally have been used as an antidiabetic medication in tropical and subtropical countries. The aim of this study was to investigate the hypolipidemic effect of Citrullus colocynthis beyond the hypoglycemic impact on human. One hundred dislipidemic patients were randomly divided into two groups namely treated (n = 50) group and placebo (n = 50) group. The subjects were treated daily by powdered seeds of Citrullus colocynthis (300 mg) and placebo for 6 weeks. The serums, TG, Chol, LDL-C, HDL-C, SGOT and SGPT were measured with enzymatic methods at the beginning and the end of the project. The significance of differences within these groups was calculated by Paired T-test and by analysis of covariance between them. There were significant differences within and between treated and placebo groups during our treatment in TG and in Cholesterol after intervention (p < 0.05). A daily intake of 300 mg day(-1) of powdered seeds of Citrullus colocynthis can lower the triglyceride and cholesterol concentration significantly in nondiabetic hyperlipidemic patients.