Lipid-lowering effect of Rhus coriaria L. (Rhus) has been investigated in multiple animal studies with promising results. Nonetheless, its clinical efficacy has not been adequately examined.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the lipid-lowering effects of Rhus among patients with hyperlipidemia.

The study was designed as a two-arm, double-blind placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial, using a parallel design. Eighty patients with primary hyperlipidemia were randomly assigned to receive Rhus capsules or placebo for 6 weeks.

The serum lipid levels, apolipoprotein-A1 (Apo-A1) and apolipoprotein-B (Apo-B) were measured.

Mean serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and Apo-A1 levels were significantly increased in the Rhus group, compared with the placebo group, after 6 weeks of intervention (P = 0.001). The analysis of covariance test including age, gender, body mass index (BMI), and smoking as co-variables revealed that the increase in HDL-C and Apo-A1 levels remained significant, and increases in HDL-C were dependent on the increase in Apo-A1 levels. No significant difference was observed between Rhus and placebo groups in terms of mean reductions in total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride levels; however, more significant improvement was observed among obese patients (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2).

The study showed significant increases in HDL-C and Apo-A1 levels in response to Rhus supplementation in patients with hyperlipidemia.

ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT02295293.