• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.37 no.9
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• pp.794-800
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• 2004

Deer Antler has been known for its traditional oriental medicinal properties and has been widely used to promote growth, boost immune function, treat blood loss and chronic joint pain. Recent study showed imported (New Zealand) Deer Antler was beneficial in reducing the side effects of cancer treatments. However, there was no intervention study conducted on the effect of Korean Deer Antler on reducing the oxidative stress to patients with diabetes. One of the sensitive ways to measure endogenous oxidative stress is by measuring cellular DNA damage using single cell gel electrophoresis (COMET assay). This study was conducted to investigate the possible beneficial effect of commercial Deer Antler drink (provided by Chung-yang Deer Farm) on lymphocyte DNA damage and blood glucose of diabetic patients. Ten patients (4 men, 6 women) participated in the study and consumed 2 pouches of Deer Antler drink every day for 20 days. Blood was collected on the morning before and after the intervention for lymphocyte isolation and blood glucose analysis. Both systolic and diastolic blood pressure showed a tendency to decrease but did not reach statistical significance after the trial. Blood glucose level was not affected by the supplementation. After the intervention, over 50% reduction were noted in the cellular DNA damage, expressed as tail length (TL) and tail moment (TM: tail length ${\times}$ percent tail DNA) . Although we did not obtain beneficial effect on lowering blood glucose levels in the patients, this results suggest that Deer Antler may initially act in protecting endogenous DNA damage in short-term experiment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.1147-1153
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• 2004

The effect of commercial deer antler drink (provided by Chung-yang Deer Farm) on blood glucose level, plasma lipids and antioxidants state in type 2 diabetic patients were studied. Ten patients with type 2 diabetes participated in the study and consumed 2 pouches (200 mL) of deer antler drink every day for 3 weeks. No significant differences were observed in levels of triglycerides, total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). However, oxidized LDL measured as conjugated dienes decreased in the patients after the trial. Plasma tocopherols and carotenoids levels showed no significant changes. No significant differences were observed in erythrocyte SOD, catalase and GSH-Px in the each group. No significant differences were observed in plasma TRAP. The results would suggest that deer antler drink influences conjugated dienes but long-term intervention trial may be necessary to see further beneficial effect of deer antler drink in diabetic patients.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nutrition Society Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.123-123
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• 2002