Highlights
- •Alpha-lipoic acid could decrease CRP levels only when the baseline level of this marker was greater than 3 mg/l.
- •Alpha-lipoic acid supplementation could significantly decrease CRP levels when trial duration was >8 weeks.
- •Alpha-lipoic acid supplementation could not significantly decrease CRP levels in diabetic patients.
Abstract
Background and aim
The aim of this meta-analysis was to assess effects of alpha-lipoic acid supplementation
on C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in clinical trial studies.
Methods and results
A systematic search was carried out on clinical trial studies published in PubMed,
ISI Web of Science, Cochrane Library and Scopus databases completed by manual search
on reference list of eligible studies accomplished by November 4, 2017. Of a total
number of 508 studies found in the first step of literature search, only 11 were included
with 264 participants in supplementation groups and 287 in control groups. Estimated
pooled random effects size analysis showed a significant reducing effect of alpha-lipoic
acid supplementation on CRP level (−0.72 mg/l, 95% CI; −1.4, −0.04; P = 0.03) with
a significant heterogeneity between the selected studies. Sub-group analysis showed
that alpha-lipoic acid supplementation could significantly reduce serum CRP level
when the baseline CRP level was greater than 3 mg/l (−1.02 mg/l, 95% CI: −1.3, −0.73)
and when trial duration was >8 weeks (−0.99 mg/l, 95% CI: −1.29, −0.70). Results of
subgroup analysis also showed that alpha lipoic acid supplementation could decrease
CRP level only in non-diabetic patients (−1.02 mg/l, 95% CI: −1.31, −0.74).
Conclusions
Results of the current meta-analysis study showed that alpha-lipoic acid supplementation
could significantly decrease CRP level in patients with elevated levels of this inflammatory
marker.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 17, 2018
Accepted:
April 9,
2018
Received in revised form:
April 3,
2018
Received:
January 14,
2018
Handling editor: A. SianiIdentification
Copyright
© 2018 The Italian Society of Diabetology, the Italian Society for the Study of Atherosclerosis, the Italian Society of Human Nutrition, and the Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
