Anthocyanin supplementation improves obesity-related inflammatory characteristics: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

The relationship between anthocyanin intake and obesity-related inflammatory markers remains unclear in existing research. To investigate this, we hypothesized that anthocyanin supplementation could reduce plasma concentrations of inflammatory markers, including C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-& alpha;), interleukin-6 (IL-6), vascu-lar cell adhesion molecule-1, and other cytokines in obesity. We conducted a systematic search of PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, SinoMed, and other related literature and iden-tified 16 randomized controlled trials that met our inclusion criteria. Our findings showed that anthocyanin intake was significantly associated with a reduction in vascular cell adhe-sion molecule-1 mean plasma concentrations (-53.56 ng/mL; 95% confidence interval [CI], -82.10 to -25.03). We also observed a modest decrease in CRP (-0.27 ng/mL; 95% CI, -0.58 to 0.05), TNF-& alpha; (-0.20 ng/mL; 95% CI, -0.54 to 0.15), and IL-6 (-0.53 ng/mL; 95% CI, -1.16 to 0.10) mean plasma concentrations. Subgroup analysis revealed that anthocyanin intake tended to decrease CRP and IL-6 concentrations in overweight or dyslipidemic individuals. Addi-tionally, the intervention duration subgroup analysis showed that anthocyanin supplemen-tation had a stronger effect on plasma IL-6 and TNF-& alpha; in participants after 8 to 12 weeks of intervention. In conclusion, our meta-analysis indicated that anthocyanin supplementa-tion can effectively reduce obesity-related inflammatory markers associated with chronic low-grade inflammation. & COPY; 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.