Summary:
This systematic review and meta-analysis examined 167 clinical trials that looked at how oral probiotic or synbiotic supplementation influences inflammation in both healthy individuals and people with various health conditions. Probiotics are beneficial microorganisms, while synbiotics combine probiotics with ingredients that support their growth. The included studies measured this by changes in inflammatory biomarkers. The findings showed that the effects of probiotics and synbiotics varied across different biomarkers and diseases. The most consistent benefits were observed for C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of systemic inflammation, and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), an inflammatory cytokine involved in immune responses. CRP levels decreased in healthy individuals and in those with metabolic disorders, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), arthritis, and critical illnesses, although no significant effect was observed in people with renal failure. Similarly, TNF-α levels decreased in healthy participants and in those with fatty liver disease, IBD, and liver cirrhosis, but remained unchanged in individuals with diabetes, metabolic syndrome, polycystic ovary syndrome and arthritis. The effects on other inflammatory markers were less consistent. In conclusion, this study suggests that probiotic and synbiotic supplementation may reduce inflammation by lowering selected inflammatory biomarkers, particularly CRP and TNF-α. The strongest anti-inflammatory effects were observed in individuals with IBD, arthritis, and fatty liver disease, indicating that these interventions may be most beneficial in conditions characterised by chronic inflammation.
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Abstract:
The current systematic review and meta-analysis investigated the effect of probiotic/synbiotic on a wide range of inflammatory and anti-inflammatory markers in healthy and various disease conditions. PubMed, SCOPUS and Web of Science databases were searched. All clinical trials which investigated the effect of oral administration of probiotic or synbiotic on inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin (IL) 1β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12, tumor necrosis factor (TNF) α, interferon (IFN) γ and transforming growth factor (TGF) β) for more than one week with concurrent control groups were included. One-hundred sixty seven publications was analysed. Results were as follows: CRP decreased in healthy, metabolic disorders, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), arthritis and critically ill condition but not in renal failure. IL-1B: no change in healthy subjects and arthritis. TNF-α: decreased in healthy, fatty liver, IBD and hepatic cirrhosis, no change in diabetes, metabolic syndrome (MS) + PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) and arthritis. IL-6: no change in healthy, metabolic disorders and arthritis, increased in cirrhosis and renal failure, decreased in PCOS + MS. IL-10: no change in healthy, IBD and metabolic disorders, increased in arthritis. IL-4, IL-8, IL-12, IFN-g and TGF-b: no change in healthy subjects. In conclusion, probiotic/synbiotic decreased some of the inflammatory markers. The intervention was most effective in CRP and TNF-α reduction in healthy or disease state. Moreover, the intervention decreased inflammation most effectively in the following disease conditions, respectively: IBD, arthritis, fatty liver.
Article Publication Date: 17/04/2019
DOI: 10.1016/j.clnu.2019.04.004 External Link
