Sabinsa, a nutraceutical company specializing in ingredients drawn from Ayurveda (a type of traditional medicine based in India) announced a new formula designed to support healthy liver function, called LivLonga. The company said that the product will give a boost to a category teeming with dated, generic products.
 
“People should take liver health seriously, as it supports metabolism, immunity, digestion, detoxification, and vitamin storage in the body,” Dr. Muhammed Majeed, founder and chairman of Sabinsa, said. “There is a clear market need for a scientifically rational herbal combination with all the right elements to support healthy liver function.”
 
LivLonga is a unique blend of three of Sabinsa’s ingredients. One serving contains 250 mg of Curcumin C3 Complex turmeric extract, 50 mg Livinol Kokum fruit extract, and 5 mg of Bioperine, a black pepper extract. This combination of ingredients is patented for liver protectant compositions and therapeutic applications.
 
Curcumin C3 Complex is standardized for 95% curcuminoids, obtained from the dried rhizomes of turmeric, which has traditionally been used to support joint, gut, and liver health. According to Sabinsa, Curcumin C3 Complex has been clinically studied more extensively than any other curcumin brand listed in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) Notice inventory. The extract contains a specific ratio of three active compounds – curcumin, demethoxycurcumin, and bisdemethoxycurcumin.
 
Livinol, a Kokum fruit extract, is standardized for 20% garcinol, which has potent antioxidant content and has been shown in clinical studies to offer multiple health benefits for the heart, gut, and liver. Traditionally, it has been used as a natural remedy for stomach and liver ailments.
 
BioPerine, a black pepper extract standardized to 95% piperine, is used widely to enhance the absorption of the beneficial compounds found in curcumin. Sabinsa reports that BioPerine is the most extensively studied form of black pepper extract, with multiple clinical trials demonstrating its safety.
 
Majeed discussed a clinical trial which yielded evidence that LivLonga was able to reduce the severity of liver disease in mice modeled after NASH (non-alcoholic steatohepatitis) a progressive form of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). NAFLD is the most common cause of chronic liver disorders, including the entire spectrum of liver disease, benign fatty liver, and liver cancer.
 
“NASH, characterized by fat deposition in the liver worsened by cellular damage and inflammatory infiltration, can further progress to cirrhosis, liver failure, and liver cancer,” Majeed said. “In a specialized model for NASH called STAM in mice where disease progression is very similar to human disease, LivLonga clearly showed evidence of reducing the severity of NASH by reducing steatosis, fibrosis, oxidative stress, and inflammation. A battery of biochemical studies further lent reliable support to this conclusion.”
 
“The absence of an effective pharma drug therapy for NASH further enhances the merits of this combination,” Majeed said.
 
In the controlled study, fatty liver-modeled mice were examined for liver triglyceride content, as well as liver antioxidants including MDA, SOD, Glutathione peroxidase, Glutatione, and TNF-a adinoceptin, both prior to and following the administration of either LivLonga or a placebo.
 
Cells from the livers of the mice were also evaluated before and prior, and the authors of the study wrote that the supplement was effective in reducing NAFLD activity scores by 37.5%. Additionally, the supplementation was able to significantly mitigate hepatocyte ballooning, a form of liver cell death caused by inflammation, compared to the control group. Biomarkers of liver fibrosis were also reduced in the supplement group. Inflammation, another biomarker considered to be a hallmark of NASH progression, was reduced in mice supplemented by the combination of ingredients, but not with curcuminoids alone, or in the control group.
 
“NAFLD is one of the most important causes of liver disease worldwide in adults and children, with global prevalence close to 24%,” the authors concluded. “Patients with NAFLD have high-risk metabolic comorbidity, which poses a heavy burden on health-care systems. The therapeutic strategy in NAFLD is to prevent the progression of liver steatosis to inflammation and fibrosis, and to prevent oxidative stress. Thus, a multifaceted approach targeting different aspects is required to treat the disease. The combination of GIE and curcuminoids is likely to help in attacking these multiple pathways by reducing inflammation, oxidative stress, ER stress, and improving gut health to slow down the progression of fatty liver to the more complex stages of NAFLD and NASH.”
 
According to the authors, another clinical trial is underway for further evaluating the combination of ingredients’ effects on chronic liver disease.