Abstract
This systematic review and meta-analysis aim to evaluate the association of wheat germ interventions and metabolic markers. An electronic search was performed by mid-May 2019 in the PubMed, Google Scholar, and Web of Science databases. Quality was evaluated using the risk of bias assessment tools. Thirty-three randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were identified, among which ten were suitable and systematically reviewed based on biomarkers (cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose, and oxidative stress). Three biomarkers in five eligible studies were investigated by meta-analysis. Total cholesterol showed non-significant results (p = 0.98), with standard mean difference (SMD) of − 0.01 (95% confidence interval; − 0.17, 0.16). The SMD was − 0.06 (95% CI − 0.41, 0.29, n = 4) for triglycerides and − 0.09 (95% CI − 0.62, 0.45, n = 2) for glucose. No biomarkers showed heterogeneity (0%). This review revealed non-significant association between wheat germ interventions and metabolic markers. Sensitive analysis with high-quality RCTs may be worth trying.
Highlights
Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is an asymptomatic disorder that includes a cluster of metabolic abnormalities associated with obesity, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and insulin resistance (Alberti et al, 2009)
This systematic review and meta-analysis aim to evaluate the association of wheat germ interventions and metabolic markers
The causative factors of MetS are central obesity and insulin resistance, which lead to cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), diabetes, and stroke (Srikanthan et al, 2016)
Summary
Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is an asymptomatic disorder that includes a cluster of metabolic abnormalities associated with obesity, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and insulin resistance (Alberti et al, 2009). Oxidative stress and inflammation contribute to the etiology of MetS (Soares and Costa, 2009) Metabolic markers such as triglyceride levels, highdensity lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), hypertension, blood pressure, obesity, insulin, and oxidative stress are the criteria used to diagnose MetS. This non-communicable disease has become a significant major cause of mortality worldwide and increases the mortality rate of patients with type 2 diabetes and CVDs, coronary heart disease, and stroke (Ford, 2004). Numerous in vitro and in vivo studies have investigated the various health aspects of wheat germ, especially wheat germ oil (Arshad et al, 2013; Khedr, 2017) that can improve lipid metabolism (Khalil et al, 2010) and lower oxidative stress (Alessandri et al, 2006). After reviewing numerous studies, this comprehensive systematic review aims to summarize the accessible scientific literature on wheat germ regarding its effectiveness with metabolic markers in humans
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