Adjuvant Treatment in Elderly Patients With Periodontitis Through the Administration of a Supplement Rich in Oleuropein From the Olive Leaf

Summary

Life expectancy has dramatically increased in the last century, although this process has not been always accompanied by an equivalent increase in healthy life expectancy. However, extending longevity without decreasing the risk of age-associated pathologies would not be desirable since non-communicable diseases can diminish seniors' quality of life, raise health-care costs, and increase pressure on family members who are responsible for their care. Maintaining a good health would help to ensure independence, security, and continued productivity in the later years helping both health systems and pensions lower costs. Thus, many scientific studies have tried to delay the age of onset of major age-related chronic diseases. In other words, research has been more focused on extending healthspan rather than lifespan.

Actually, numerous experimental studies have shown that the extension of lifespan by modifying risk factors is usually accompanied by delayed or reduced morbidity, including cardiovascular disease, neurodegeneration, and tumors. In the dietary context, modifications of the diet energy and/or macronutrient balance has shown to contribute to healthy aging, increasing healthspan and probably lifespan. Likewise, some foods would be able to supply a significant amount of compounds to the human diet, including non-nutrients which are thought to exert effects in the same sense. Thus, adequate nutritional intervention would be considered geroprotective interventions that would positively influence health by slowing basic biological processes of aging, such as cellular senescence, mitochondrial dysfunction, age-related decline of stress resistance, dysregulated cellular energy sensing/growth pathways, impaired proteostasis, deteriorated stem cell function/bioavailability, as well as inflammation/oxidative stress.

The use of nutraceuticals and functional foods from olive products and by-products can be useful in the treatment of pathologies associated with aging, such as periodontitis, as well as from the point of view of a proper nutrition during aging.

The study is a double-blind clinical trial of parallel design whose main objective is to evaluate the usefulness of a dietary supplement rich in oleuropein from the olive tree (leaf) in the adjuvant treatment of patients with age-related periodontitis. Efforts will be made to ensure that men and women be represented homogeneously in all study groups, although it is known that gender does not influence the appearance of periodontitis.

The experimental design foresees the inclusion of 130 patients with chronic periodontitis aged 60 years or older, 65 for the control group and 65 for the treatment group. Volunteers will be recruited from new patients attending the Faculty of Odontology at the University of Sevilla, Sevilla (Spain) by one study team member.

The investigational product will be provided by Natac Company (Madrid, Spain), a corporate group dedicated to researching, developing, manufacturing, and marketing natural ingredients to be used in food supplements, feed, pet food, as well as in functional foods, and as natural, active pharmaceutical ingredients.

The planned schedule for the participating subjects is as follows:

* Day 0: diagnosis of periodontitis, proposal to participate in the study, delivery of consent and information to the patient.
* Day 15: oral exams, collection of sociodemographic data, study of anthropometric characteristics and blood pressure, evaluation of eating habits, urine and blood sampling, collection of samples for the study of the periodontal microbiota and data collection and calculation of the index of successful ageing.
* Day 16 to 30 periodontal treatment.
* Day 16 to 136: administration of treatment (oleuropein or placebo).
* Day 136: oral exams, collection of sociodemographic data, study of anthropometric characteristics and blood pressure, evaluation of eating habits, urine and blood sampling, collection of samples for the study of the periodontal microbiota and data collection and calculation of the index of successful ageing.

The analytical part of the of the clinical trial will be developed mostly in the Biomedical Research Center (CIBM) of the University of Granada. The field part of the clinical trial in patients with periodontitis will be carried out at the Faculty of Dentistry of the University of Seville.

The design of the clinical trial provides for the participation of specialists from several disciplines, including specialists in Nutrition and Physiology, clinical specialists in Pathological Anatomy and Dentistry, technicians from the Center of Scientific Instrumentation of the University of Granada (specialists in various subjects such as microscopy, biochemical analysis, histology and veterinary) as well as technicians from the Marketing Unit of the OTRI of the University of Granada.

Conditions

• Periodontitis

Interventions

DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Oleuropein from olive tree

The capsules intake will last for a total of 4 months.

DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Placebo

The capsules intake will last for a total of 4 months.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Jose Luis Quiles Morales

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

TRIPLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

50 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-04-15

Primary Completion

2024-02-29

Completion

2024-12-31

Countries

• Spain

Study Locations