Effects of Acute Consumption of Garcinia kola on Hepatic Enzymes in Apparently Well Nigerian Youths

Garcinia kola belongs to the Family Clusiaceae guttiferae and contains a complex mixture of biflavonoids, prenylated benzophenones and xanthone1. Its seeds, popularly called ‘Bitter Kola’, form an integral part of the herbal preparations used in traditional African medicine. A lot of studies have been done in animals to look at the effects of Garcinia kola on their organs, very few have been done in human beings. This study was done to look at the effect of acute consumption of Garcinia kola on hepatic enzymes in apparently well Nigerian youths. The response of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) following the consumption of about 100 mg/kg of body weight of Garcinia kola was measured in 28 apparently well University of Ilorin medical students. The rise in the level of AST, ALT and ALP was studied from the plasma of the subjects. The basal level of the enzymes pre-consumption of Garcinia kola serves as control for the ones collected after 2 hours of Garcinia kola consumption. After consumption of Garcinia kola, the result shows that the level of AST rose from 90.6 ± 43.6 μ/L to 120.9 ± 42.6 μ/L which was significant at p=0.001, the level of ALT rose from 63.4 ± 56.3 u/L to 86.8 ± 51.6 μ/L which was significant at p=0.001, and the ALP level rose from 101.1 ± 75.4 μ/L to 139.5 ± 89.9 μ/L which was significant at p=0.001. The De-Ritis ratio was calculated and was found to decreased from 7.3 ± 1.81 to 1.8 ± 1.0 which was significant at p<0.041 respectively. Pre-consumption of Garcinia kola, there was a weak negative correlation between AST and ALT at ‘r’ value of -0.310 and ‘p’ value of 0.108; so also between AST and ALP at ‘r’ value of -0.310 and ‘p’ value of 0.018 but positive correlation between ALT & ALP at ‘r’ value of 0.425 and ‘p’ value 0.024. Post-consumption of Garcinia kola, there was a more stronger but still weak negative correlation between AST and ALT at ‘r’ value of -0.151 and ‘p’ value of 0.442; but positive one between AST and ALP at ‘r’ value of 0.205 and ‘p’ value of 0.296 but positive correlation between ALT and ALP at ‘r’ value of 0.321 and ‘p’ value 0.096. The clinical significance of this study is that following the acute consumption of Garcinia kola, there was an increase in the plasma levels of AST, ALT and ALP, and a decrease in the calculated DeRitis ratio. This shows that Garcinia kola is an hepatic enzymes