Effects of Probiotics on Metabolic Syndrome: A Systematic Review of Randomized Clinical Trials
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Endocrinology and Nutrition Clinical Management Unit, University Hospital Virgen de las Nieves, 18014 Granada, Spain
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Endocrinology and Nutrition Clinical Management Unit, University Hospital of Jaén, 23007 Jaén, Spain
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Department of Health Sciences, School of Health Sciences, University of Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain
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Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology II, School of Pharmacy, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
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Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology “José Mataix”, Center of Biomedical Research, University of Granada, 18016 Granada, Spain
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Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs. GRANADA, 18012 Granada, Spain
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CIBEROBN (CIBER Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029 Madrid, Spain
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Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Nutrients 2020, 12(1), 124; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12010124
Received: 25 November 2019 / Revised: 24 December 2019 / Accepted: 27 December 2019 / Published: 1 January 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Diet, Gut Microbiota and Metabolic Disorders)
The aim of this systematic review is to evaluate whether the use of probiotics has any effect on the components of metabolic syndrome (MetS) before patients develop type 2 diabetes. A qualitative systematic review, following the Cochrane methodology, and a comprehensive literature search of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were conducted in PubMed and Scopus from inception until 4 July 2019. According to our inclusion criteria, nine clinical studies were finally analyzed, corresponding to six RCTs. Probiotics intake in patients with MetS resulted in improvements in body mass index, blood pressure, glucose metabolism, and lipid profile in some studies. Regarding inflammatory biomarkers, probiotics also positively affected the soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (sVCAM-1), interleukine-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and thrombomodulin. Despite the diversity of the published studies, the intake of probiotics for patients with MetS may offer a discrete improvement in some of the clinical characteristics of the MetS and a decrease in inflammatory biomarkers. Nevertheless, these beneficial effects seem to be marginal compared to drug therapy and a healthy lifestyle and clinically non-relevant.
Keywords:
metabolic syndrome; gastrointestinal microbiome; probiotics; obesity