Serrapeptase for Anti-Inflammatory

Research suggests that serrapeptase may have meaningful anti-inflammatory and anti-edema effects in certain acute and post-surgical contexts, with the most direct human evidence coming from two controlled trials — a double-blind placebo-controlled study in patients with post-surgical facial swelling and a randomized double-blind trial in patients with breast engorgement — both of which reported statistically significant improvements in the serrapeptase groups. A non-randomized comparative study also found serrapeptase outperformed paracetamol for reducing ankle swelling following sprains, and a pharmacokinetic study in rats confirmed that orally administered serrapeptase is absorbed into the bloodstream in an enzymatically active form, lending some biological plausibility to its observed effects. However, the overall evidence base is limited in size and methodological rigor, and a more recent retrospective study found no benefit for preventing post-liposuction fibrosis, suggesting the enzyme's utility may not extend uniformly across all inflammatory conditions. Taken together, the available research is directionally supportive but too preliminary and narrow in scope to draw firm conclusions, and several of the studies carry notable limitations including lack of randomization and small sample sizes.