Mediterranean diet consumption affects the endocannabinoid system in overweight and obese subjects: possible links with gut microbiome, insulin resistance and inflammation
Randomised controlled trialHumans
- Design
- Randomised controlled trial
- Subjects
- 82 overweight and obese adults (mean age 43, BMI 31.1) with a Western diet and sedentary lifestyle; 43 assigned to a Mediterranean diet and 39 to their usual diet
- Dose used in the study
- Not applicable; palmitoylethanolamide was measured in plasma, not given
- Duration
- 8 weeks
- What was measured
- Plasma endocannabinoids and N-acylethanolamines and their ratios, gut microbiome, insulin resistance and inflammatory markers.
What the authors reported
The Mediterranean diet lowered plasma anandamide (p=0.02), raised the oleoylethanolamide to palmitoylethanolamide ratio (p=0.009) and the oleoylethanolamide to anandamide ratio (p=0.006), and increased faecal Akkermansia muciniphila (p=0.026), independent of weight change. People with low baseline OEA/PEA improved insulin resistance (p=0.01); those with high baseline OEA/PEA lowered C-reactive protein (p=0.02).
Limits of this study
A randomised diet trial that measured PEA levels; it did not test PEA supplementation. Diet trials cannot be blinded. The corresponding author states no conflict of interest on behalf of all authors.
Source
PubMed 33763720 · doi:10.1007/s00394-021-02538-8
Entry checked against the abstract on PubMed on 2026-09-22. The dose shown is the dose the researchers used. It is not a recommendation. How to read this page.