Plum supplementation and lipid profile: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.

Moein Askarpour, Hamid Ghalandari, Leila Setayesh, Ehsan Ghaedi

Journal: Journal of nutritional science 2023;12():e6

PMID: 36721717

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Plain Language Summary

The rate of nutrition-related non-communicable diseases is increasing worldwide. Lipid profile and its alterations have been used both as indicators of metabolic disorders and methods to evaluate patients’ response to dietary interventions. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of plums on improving parameters of lipid profile. This study is a systematic review and meta-analysis of nine randomised controlled trials with a total of eleven arms and 592 participants. Results show that plum can be beneficial in reducing triacylglycerols [triglycerides] in the unhealthy and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in all individuals. However, no significant impact regarding blood triacylglycerols and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, could be detected both in crude and subgroup analyses. Authors conclude that further clinical trials, taking advantage of a standard protocol of plum supplementation, should be conducted to elucidate the possible effect that plum supplementation might exert on lipid profile parameters.

Abstract

Plums are abundant in bioactive compounds which have been associated with numerous health benefits. In the present study, we aimed at examining the impact of plum supplementation on lipid profile of individuals. Electronic bibliographical databases were searched for relevant randomised clinical trials. Articles meeting our eligibility criteria were included for data extraction and final analysis. Weighted mean difference (WMD) was estimated using a random-effect model. Of the total articles retrieved in the initial search, nine articles were found to be eligible to be included in the analysis. Our results show that plum supplementation significantly improves total cholesterols levels in the unhealthy individuals. Moreover, plum supplementation reduces the LDL-c levels in the pooled sample (WMD = -11⋅52 mg/dl; 95 % CI -21⋅93, -1⋅11, = 0⋅03, = 98⋅7 %) and also in some of the subgroups of individuals (dried plum, unhealthy subjects, duration more than 8 weeks). Moreover, it had a significant reducing effect on TC levels just in unhealthy subjects. Although plum supplementation did not have any significant impact on serum levels of TG nor HDL-c. Our results show that supplementation with plums is potentially effective in reducing serum total cholesterol and LDL-c.

Address: Department of Clinical Nutrition, School of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.; Department of Community Nutrition, School of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.; Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE.; Department of Clinical Nutrition, School of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

DOI: 10.1017/jns.2022.101