Effects of Barley Green on Visceral Fat Area in the Human Body and Investigation Into the Associated Mechanism of Intestinal Microbiota

Exclusion Criteria10

• ① Patients currently receiving weight-loss medications (e.g., incretin-based therapies such as GLP-1 receptor agonists) or medications that improve insulin resistance (e.g., metformin or other insulin-sensitizing agents), or anti-inflammatory agents with documented effects on inflammatory markers (including but not limited to lipid-lowering agents, hypoglycemic agents, antihypertensives, urate-lowering agents, etc.);
• Patients concurrently using nutritional supplements or functional foods (e.g., phytochemicals, health supplements) with demonstrated effects on reducing body fat or visceral adiposity;
• Patients regularly consuming prebiotics, probiotics, or other microbiota-modulating agents;
• Patients with diseases severely affecting nutrient digestion or absorption (e.g., chronic diarrhea, severe constipation, active inflammatory bowel disease, active gastrointestinal ulcers, history of gastrointestinal resection, cholecystitis/post-cholecystectomy syndrome, etc.);
• Patients with cardiovascular/cerebrovascular diseases (e.g., coronary artery disease, heart failure, arrhythmias, cardiomyopathies, cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral arteritis), grade 3 hypertension, stroke, chronic hepatitis, malignancies, anemia, psychiatric disorders, cognitive impairment, epilepsy, acute-phase gout, nephrolithiasis, or renal insufficiency;
• ⑥ Patients with hepatic dysfunction (alanine aminotransferase \[ALT\] and/or aspartate aminotransferase \[AST\] levels exceeding 3 times the upper limit of normal \[ULN\]) or renal dysfunction (serum creatinine exceeding ULN);
• ⑦ Patients with active infectious diseases (e.g., tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS);
• ⑧ Patients with severe allergies to any component of the investigational products;
• ⑨ Pregnant or lactating individuals;
• ⑩ Patients with physical disabilities or other conditions deemed ineligible by investigators (e.g., clinically significant comorbidities not listed above).