renal protective effects of oral achillea millefolium in patients with type 2 diabetes: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial

Background: diabetic kidney disease is a highly prevalent and serious long-term complication of type 2 diabetes mellitus (t2dm). phytotherapeutic interventions are increasingly explored as adjunctive therapies. achillea millefolium (am), a traditional medicinal plant, has been postulated to possess renoprotective properties.objectives: this study aimed to investigate the efficacy and renoprotective effects of am supplementation on serum urea and creatinine levels in patients with t2dm as an adjunct therapy.methods: in this double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial (irct20230612058459n1), we enrolled 60 patients with t2dm. participants were randomly assigned to receive either 500 mg/day of an am capsule (n=30) or an identically appearing placebo (cellulose) capsule (n=30) for three months. serum urea and creatinine concentrations were measured at baseline and after the intervention. results: following the three-month intervention, the am group exhibited significant within-group reductions in both serum creatinine (from 1.17 ± 0.36 mg/dl to 0.84 ± 0.15 mg/dl; p < 0.0001) and serum urea (from 37.7 ± 10.02 mg/dl to 30.93 ± 6.12 mg/dl; p < 0.0001). in the placebo group, changes in these parameters were not statistically significant. however, the between-group analysis revealed that the post-intervention reductions in serum creatinine and urea in the am group were not statistically significantly different from those observed in the placebo group (p = 0.117 and p = 0.221, respectively).conclusion: our results demonstrate that a three-month supplementation with 500 mg/day of am significantly reduces serum creatinine and urea levels from baseline in patients with t2dm. however, the lack of a statistically significant between-group difference compared to placebo tempers the conclusion of efficacy, suggesting that the observed effect may not be attributable solely to the active intervention. further large-scale studies are warranted to confirm these findings and elucidate the underlying mechanisms.