4. Discussion
TG
ADVERSE EFFECTS, TRANSFORMING
Transforming waste from the food industry into functional food has become an emerging area of research and innovation [Previous studies have reported the safety of whole coffee fruit products [During the study, participants who received the coffee cherry pulp juice concentrate maintained fasting plasma glucose levels significantly better than the placebo group. The finding suggests that coffee cherry pulp juice concentrate may offer some benefits in controlling fasting plasma glucose levels. In addition, a significant decrease in total cholesterol and LDL was observed after consuming coffee cherry pulp juice concentrate for at least 8 weeks, with a significant difference from the placebo group. Since some participants in this study had total cholesterol and LDL higher than normal levels (but still had a normal cholesterol:HDL ratio), the findings from this study indicate some beneficial effects of the product on blood lipid control. This result is consistent with our previous short-term study. We found that consuming 20–28 g/day of coffee cherry pulp juice concentrate for 2 weeks significantly reduced total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol [Compared to the placebo group, a significant increase in the average levels of HDL and triglycerides (TG) was observed at week 14, which was 2 weeks after stopping the interventions. The slight increase in HDL and TG in the study group was not significant when compared to the baseline values (Compared to the placebo group, a significant decrease in the average levels of creatinine and AST was observed at week 14 (two weeks after stopping the interventions). The slight decrease in creatinine and AST in the study group was not significant when compared to the baseline values (The first strength of this work is its randomized blinded placebo control trial design, which has low bias. Second, the dose of 28 g/day was designed based on our previous dose-escalation study of two weeks, which helped lower the risk to participants. Third, all participants were followed up periodically at 4, 8, and 12 weeks of intervention, and 2 weeks after stopping the intervention. The multiple follow-ups allow for careful monitoring of safety and help maintain good compliance. The limitations of this study include the difficulty of avoiding menstrual periods on the follow-up dates. Thus, several participants had slightly cloudy urine, RBC, WBC, and squamous epithelial cells on the appointment date. Second, our inclusion criteria only required normal blood pressure and heart rate but did not require normal EKG. Thus, in this study, there were also some participants with abnormal EKG in both groups at baseline. For this study, consuming coffee cherry pulp juice concentrate had no adverse effects on EKG. However, future clinical safety studies should set normal EKG as an inclusion criteria.