Effects of Inulin on the Plasma Lipid Profile of Normolipidemic and Hyperlipidemic Subjects

A Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Zhuang Guo; Xiao-Ming Liu; Qiu-Xiang Zhang; Feng-Wei Tian; Hao Zhang; He-Ping Zhang; Wei Chen

Clin Lipidology. 2012;7(2):215-222.

Conclusion

Based on this meta-analysis, it can be stated that oral inulin has beneficial effects on total cholesterol and LDL-C, as well as triglyceride concentration in the plasma of hyperlipidemic subjects, and has no effects on plasma lipids in normolipidemic subjects.

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Table 1. Baseline characteristics of the references enrolled in the meta-analysis.
Study	Vehicle	Status of health	Study design	Duration (days)	Groups	Sample size	M/F	BMI (kg/m² [SD])	Age (years [SD])	Dosage (g/day)	Ref.
van Dokkum et al. (1999)	Sweetener	Norm	LS^†	21	I C	12 12	12/0 12/0	79.8 (7.2)^‡ 79.8 (7.2)^‡	23 (3) 23 (3)	15	[16]
Pedersen et al. (1997)	Spread	Norm	Crossover	28	I C	64 64	0/64 0/64	21.9 (2.6) 21.9 (2.6)	20–36 20–36	14	[17]
Letexier et al. (2003)	Sweetener	Norm	Crossover	21	I C	8 8	NR NR	19.0–25.0 19.0–25.0	23–32 23–32	10	[19]
Davidson et al. (1999)	Chocolate, spreads, sweetener	Hyper	Crossover	42	I C	21 21	NR NR	NR NR	58 (4) 63 (3)	18	[18]
Jackson et al. (1999)	Sweetener	Hyper	Parallel	56	I C	27 27	NR NR	26.5 (3.6) 26.1 (2.8)	53 (9) 52 (11)	10	[12]
Causey et al. (2000)	Vanilla ice cream	Hyper	Crossover	21	I C	12 12	12/0 12/0	NR NR	27–49 27–49	20	[13]
Balcazar-Munoz et al. (2003)	Sweetener	Hyper	Parallel	28	I C	6 6	6/0 6/0	27.0–34.0 27.0–34.0	19–32 19–32	4	[14]
de Luis et al. (2010)	Cookie	Hyper	Parallel	30	I C	15 15	2/13 2/13	>30.0 >30.0	55 (18) 57 (17)	3	[15]

†The Latin square assignment was a crossover with more than two treatments.
‡Body weight (kg).
C: Control group; Hyper: Hyperlipidemic subjects; I: Intervention group; LS: Latin square assignment; M/F: Male/female; Norm: Normolipidemic subjects; NR: Not reported; SD: Standard deviation.

Table 2. Net changes calculated from the meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials evaluating inulin.
Study	Status	Total cholesterol (mg/dl)		HDL-C (mg/dl)		LDL-C (mg/dl)		Triglycerides (mg/dl)		Ref.
Study	Status	Intervention	Control	Intervention	Control	Intervention	Control	Intervention	Control	Ref.
van Dokkum et al. (1999)	Norm	-1.9 (22.9)	0 (24.0)	-0.4 (19.5)	0 (19.7)	0.8 (8.5)	0 (8.5)	-8 (55.9)	0 (60.2)	[16]
Pedersen et al. (1997)	Norm	-1.6 (29.2)	-1.2 (27.0)	-3.8 (26.9)	-3.4 (25.0)	2.3 (11.2)	1.9 (11.2)	1.7 (31.2)	2.6 (32.7)	[17]
Letexier et al. (2003)	Norm	8.9 (33.9)	0 (35.0)	NR	NR	NR	NR	-13.3 (38.3)	0 (36.8)	[19]
Davidson et al. (1999)	Hyper	-3.5 (26.8)	15.4 (21.3)	-3.8 (18.8)	16.2 (17.7)	0.4 (12.4)	3.9 (11.5)	-4.4 (46.8)	4.4 (65.1)	[18]
Jackson et al. (1999)	Hyper	1.5 (38.1)	1.2 (33.0)	1.1 (33.1)	-4.6 (38.8)	2.7 (11.8)	2 (13.1)	-15 (40.8)	16.8 (44.1)	[12]
Causey et al. (2000)	Hyper	-7.6 (34.3)	0 (37.0)	-3.1 (29.7)	0 (32.0)	-1.3 (8.9)	0 (10.0)	-39.7 (178.8)	0 (194.2)	[13]
Balcazar-Munoz et al. (2003)	Hyper	-53.8 (35.5)	-28.5 (30.3)	-22.7 (32.3)	-5.4 (44.3)	0.5 (12.9)	-2.6 (8.5)	-64.4 (66.4)	-35.7 (64.1)	[14]
de Luis et al. (2010)	Hyper	-14.3 (39.7)	-4.3 (38.7)	-11.5 (34.3)	-1.9 (33.6)	-3.9 (12.8)	-1.3 (10.8)	6.7 (38.4)	-0.9 (53.7)	[15]

All values are reported as mean ± standard deviation.
The negative (−) symbols represent reduction in cholesterol or triglycerides in subjects while consuming an inulin-enriched diet.
Hyper: Hyperlipidemic subjects; Norm: Normolipidemic subjects; NR: Not reported.