J Food Biochem. 2020;00:e13193. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jfbc | 1 of 11 https://doi.org/10.1111/jfc.13193 © 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Received: 22 August 2019 | Revised: 12 February 2020 | Accepted: 15 February 2020 DOI: 10.1111/jfbc.13193 SPECIAL ISSUE ORIGINAL ARTICLE The effect of dried Ziziphus vulgaris on glycemic control, lipid profile, Apo-proteins and hs-CRP in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: A randomized controlled clinical trial Zahra Irannejad niri 1 | Farzad Shidfar 1 | Masoumeh Jabbari 2 | Mitra Zarrati 1 | AghaFateme Hosseini 3 | Mojtaba Malek 4 | Afsaneh Dehnad 5 Abbreviations: T2DM, type 2 diabetes mellitus; ApoA-I, apoprotein A-I; hs-CRP, high-sensitive c-reactive protein; HOMA-IR, homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance; QUICKI, quantitative insulin check index; TC, total cholesterol; HDL-C, high density lipoprotein; LDL-C, low density lipoprotein; TG, triglyceride. 1 Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 2 Student Research Committee, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences and Food Industry, Department of Community Nutrition, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 3 Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 4 Research Center for Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease, Institute of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 5 Department of English Language, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Correspondence Farzad Shidfar, Department of Nutrition, school of public Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Email: shidfar.f@iums.ac.ir Funding information Iran University of Medical Sciences Abstract We aimed to evaluate the effect of dried Ziziphus vulgaris [Z. vulgaris] consumption on liver enzymes, blood pressure, inflammatory status, glycemic control, and lipid concentrations in type 2 diabetes patients. Seventy-six diabetic participants (aged 20–65 years) randomly assigned to intervention (n = 38) and placebo (n = 38) groups. The intervention group received 30 g/day dried Z. vulgaris for 12 weeks. At the end of the study, there was a significant reduction in the percentage change of weight, body mass index [BMI], insulin, homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance [HOMA-IR], Apoprotein B100 [ApoB100], and high-sensitive c-reactive protein [hs- CRP] in the intervention group compared to the controls. Also, increased values of quantitative insulin check index [QUICKI] and Apoprotein A-I [ApoA-I] in Z. vulgaris group compared to the controls were observed. In conclusion, consumption of dried Z. vulgaris fruit could have beneficial effects on improving the glycemic control and reducing the cardiovascular risk factors in the diabetic patients. Practical applications In the present study we found that consumption of 30 g/day dried Z. vulgaris fruit in patients with type 2 diabetes for 12 weeks has beneficial anti-inflammatory, anti- hyperglycemic, and anti-hyperlipidemic effects on type 2 diabetes mellitus [T2DM] patients compared to the control group. Thus, it seems reasonable to design a large- scale clinical trial to determine the potential adverse effects of higher doses of this fruit and identify the therapeutic doses for the complementary treatment in T2DM medication. The medication with this popular fruit as an ingredient could be easily accepted by diabetic patients and may reduce the dependency and dosage of some of the routine diabetes medications which often have some adverse side effects. KEYWORDS glycemic control, inflammation, lipid profile, type 2 diabetes mellitus, Z. vulgaris