title: Arnebia euchromaointment can reduce abdominal fat thickness and abdominal circumference of overweight women: A randomized controlled study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Obesity is a worldwide health problem which is associated with a lot of complications. One of these comorbidities is the metabolic syndrome that is in correlation with abdominal fat thickness and waist circumference. Various methods were used to reduce abdominal fat thickness such as liposuction. A noninvasive method is the topical agent. In this study, we investigated the effectiveness ofArnebia euchroma(AE) ointment on the abdominal fat thickness.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was a double-blind clinical trial which was done at the endocrinology clinic in Khorshid Hospital, Isfahan, Iran, in 2014. After explaining the procedure and obtaining informed consent, the candidates were randomly divided into the case and control groups. The participants of the case and control groups applied AE ointment or placebo for 6 weeks on their abdominal area. Body mass index, waist and buttock circumference, and abdominal fat thickness were measured in both case and control groups at their first visit and then at the next 2, 4, and 6 weeks. We usedt-test for comparing parametric variables between groups, pairedt-test for changes from baseline to final, and repeated measure ANOVA for changes at different steps.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixty female candidates participated in this study (thirty in each group). Ten patients left the study and fifty participants finished the trial. At the end of the study, participants had a significant weight loss (2.96 ± 1.6 kg,P< 0.001) that was slightly more in the case group (3.15 ± 1.5 kg vs. 2.75 ± 1.7,P= 0.375). Abdominal circumference also decreased significantly in the participants (11.3 ± 6.7 cm,P< 0.001), but the changes were more significant in the case group (13.9 vs. 6.5 cm,P= 0.004). Similarly, abdominal fat thickness decreased significantly in the participants (2.3 ± 1.1 cm,P< 0.001), although changes were not significantly different between two groups (2.53 vs. 2.04 cm,P= 0.139).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Topical AE ointment can reduce the abdominal fat thickness as well as the waist circumference without causing any side effect.
authors.affiliation: Endocrine and Metabolism Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Mansour
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Siavash
authors.affiliation: Traditional Medicine Clinical Trial Research Center, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohsen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Naseri
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Mojgan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rahimi
keywords: Abdominal circumference; Arnebia euchroma; fatty thickness; herbal ointment; topical appliance