NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Zinc carnosine may help protect the gastrointestinal system, just as makers of the health food supplement claim, a new study from the UK shows.

Zinc carnosine is an artificially produced carnosine derivative that is linked to zinc in a one-to-one ratio. Carnosine is found in muscle and nerve tissue and has antioxidant properties. It is currently marketed as a zinc dietary supplement that improves gastric health.

Dr. R. J. Playford of Queen Mary's School of Medicine & Dentistry in London, and colleagues, conducted a series of studies to determine whether the supplement would help protect against the gut-eroding effects of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) indomethacin.

In petri dishes, the researchers found that zinc carnosine induced cells to travel to a simulated wound area and also triggered increased cell proliferation, suggesting that it would improve wound healing.

In rat studies, the supplement protected against damage to the stomach lining and small intestine caused by indomethacin.

The researchers also tested the supplement in 10 healthy men and women who took either zinc carnosine or placebo while taking indomethacin. While the NSAID tripled gut permeability in those on placebo, indomethacin had no effect on gut permeability in participants on zinc carnosine.

"Our studies have shown that zinc carnosine, commercially available as over-the-counter "health food" supplements for licensing purposes, possesses biological activity when assessed using several models of gut integrity and repair, and in a clinical trial," Playford's team writes.

"Importantly, these effects were seen at concentrations likely to be found in participants taking the product as a health food supplement."

Previous studies suggest that between 10 and 30 percent of patients who take NSAIDs develop stomach ulceration, the researchers note. And as many as 70 percent of NSAID users may have damage to their gut lining due to blood and protein loss, they add.

While protein pump inhibitor drugs can help protect the stomach, the researchers point out, they don't prevent injury to the small intestine, and while drugs called prostaglandin analogs may protect the small intestine, these drugs produce side effects like diarrhea.

"To our knowledge, this is the first clinical study to show that zinc carnosine protects the small intestine...from NSAID-induced injury and has the additional advantage of being a natural-based functional food," the researchers conclude.