Pomegranate juice consumption alleviates inflammation and cortisol levels in patients with opioid use disorders under medication for addiction treatment with methadone and buprenorphine: a randomized controlled trial

Background and aims: Patients with opioid use disorders (OUDs) under medication for addiction treatment (MAT) experience highly stressor events that enhance systemic inflammation, which is a severe symptom. Pomegranate, due to its bioactive compounds that exert potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, could putatively be a beneficial nutritional intervention for opioid addicted patients. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate the impact of pomegranate juice consumption on inflammatory response of patients under MAT. Methods: In total, 58 patients under MAT were divided into the experimental group (n=40), comprising patients who consumed pomegranate juice (dosage: 250 ml/day, seven days/week, 120 days) and the control group including 18 patients who did not consume anything. These groups were further stratified based on MAT, namely methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) and buprenorphine maintenance treatment (BMT). Cortisol concentration and pro-inflammatory agents (IFN-γ, IL-6, IL-8, MCP-1) were measured in blood at Days 1 and 120. Results: Cortisol levels and the concentrations of all measured cytokines were decreased in both MMT and BMT patients at Day 120 due to pomegranate juice consumption compared to the control. Furthermore, after consumption of the juice and at Day 120, cortisol and MCP-1 concentrations were decreased in a greater extent in patients under buprenorphine compared to those under methadone. Conclusions: The obtained findings indicate that pomegranate juice consumption could be considered as an auxiliary intervention, in parallel with medication, towards rehabilitation of patients under MAT since it reduces inflammation, a severe biochemical and organismal symptom. NCT05861544