NingXia Red® and Immune Health
Antioxidants are a longstanding popular method of protecting immune systems and promoting physical well-being. These antioxidants help our bodies by playing a role in eliminating free radicals from the body, which allows our immune systems to focus on fighting foreign invaders coming from airborne pathogens.
Antioxidant Supplements?
Perhaps the easiest and most convenient way to get more antioxidants into your diet is through supplements. These supplements are commonly made from a combination of antioxidant-rich ingredients such as dark berries and citrus essential oil.
However, while these ingredients are generally combined in supplements, they have typically been studied alone. This means that there is a gap in research on combining antioxidants-bearing fruits.
Inspired by this gap, our researchers set out to conduct a study exploring the impact of berry juices and citrus essential oils on immune health in men and women. For this study, our researchers used the dietary supplement NingXia Red®, which is an antioxidant beverage containing a blend of dark berry juices and citrus extracts.
The Study
Our study consisted of 155 healthy adults aged 18-60 years old. Participants were randomly placed into either a control group where a placebo was used or the supplement group, with a daily dose of 60 ml of NingXia Red®.
Data was collected on day 1 of participation and again on day 60, using the Physical Health Questionnaire.
In order to control outside variables, participants agreed to delay any changes in lifestyle, fitness, medication, diet, and supplements until after the study. Additionally, this study did not include any participants who were smokers, pregnant or planning to be pregnant, or those who were currently or previously diagnosed with covid-19.
What our scientists discovered about antioxidants:
The main piece of information this study wanted to explore was the impact of an antioxidant-rich supplement (derived from dark berries and citrus essential oils) on immune health and overall physical well-being.
Participants in the study group experienced far greater improvements in overall health at the 60-day mark compared to those in the control group. The sleep domain was used to measure disturbances to participants’ sleep habits, the sleep domain has a possible score of 0 to 24, with higher scores indicating more disturbances. At the beginning of the study, the control group had an average sleep domain score of 8.48, and the supplement group had an average sleep domain score of 9.77. At end of the study, participants in the supplement group appeared to be sleeping better, with their average sleep domain score dropping by 2.77 points, compared to the control group, whose average sleep domain score dropped by only 0.9 points.
Participants in the supplement group also experienced shorter lengths of illness compared to the control group. During the trial, there were 23 reported respiratory illnesses among participants, with 12 occurring in the supplement group, and 11 occurring in the control group. Within the supplement group, most illnesses lasted between 1 and 2 days, within the control group illnesses lasted anywhere from 1 to 9 days. Additionally, the mean duration of symptoms in the supplement group was 1.58 days, while the mean duration of symptoms in the control group was 3.09 days. This means that individuals in the control group experienced infections lasting nearly twice as long as those in the supplement group.
Our results were published in the summer of 2022 in the scientific journal Advances in Integrative Medicine, which is published by the highly respected scientific publisher Elsevier. The manuscript is entitled: Effects of antioxidant supplement on immune health and physical wellbeing: a randomized, controlled trial and you can find it on ScienceDirect here.
How can you use these findings?
One key component of applying scientific trials to your own life is to look at the people in the study to see how much they reflect you personally. In these studies, both men and women were represented, meaning these findings can be applied to all genders. This study was conducted during the covid-19 pandemic which caused underlying stress due to unpredictability in spread, because we know stress can alter sleep patterns, this may have impacted the results of sleep domain scores, meaning sleep benefits from this supplement may vary outside of the pandemic.
Another big factor in applying these results is age. In this study, all participants were aged 18 or older. That makes it difficult to generalize these findings to children. Clinical trials on kid-focused antioxidant products are especially needed.
Next Steps
The clear next step is to expand the size of clinical trials on combining antioxidant-bearing fruits. Additionally, participants in this study were evaluated for 60 days, certain populations may require longer intervention time for effects to be documented. Future studies should examine the effects of antioxidant beverages over a period of 4-6 months or longer to explore this.