The effect of chamomile intake on lipid profile in patients with diabetes and related metabolic disorders. A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Background. The current study sought to provide a robust examination of the evidence for the efficacy of chamomile on lipid profile in diabetics. Methods. PubMed, Scopus, web of Science, and Cochrane Library were systematically searched to find randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing the impact of chamomile intake on lipid profile, up to 17 August 2020. To obtain weighted mean difference (wMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), a random-effects model was applied. A random-effects meta-regression was ran to detect the potential source of inter-study heterogeneity. Publication bias was checked using begg’s and Egger’s tests. Results. Four trials, comprising 254 participants, were included to the meta-analysis. In comparison with controls, total cholesterol (TC) (wMD = –22.40, 95% CI = = [–37.85, –6.96], P = 0.004, I² = 59.1%) was significantly decreased in the groups receiving chamomile. In contrast, serum triglycerides (Tg) (wMD = –17.47, 95% CI = [–44.44, 9.50], P = 0.20, I² = 74.3%), high density lipoproteins cholesterol (HDl-C) (wMD = 0.63, 95% CI = [–1.38, 2.64], P = 0.53, I² = 0.0%), and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (lDl-C) (wMD = –10.94, 95% CI = [–23.71, 1.81], P = 0.09, I² = 71.3%) were not significantly altered by chamomile consumption. Conclusion. The present meta-analysis demonstrates that chamomile can elicit significant reductions in serum TC, but not Tg, HDl-C and lDl-C in diabetics. Moreover, further large-scale and well-designed RCTs are required to confirm the veracity of these findings. (Clin Diabetol 2021; 10; 4: 375–381)