Effects of whey protein on glycemic control and serum lipoproteins in patients with metabolic syndrome and related conditions: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials.
Level 1 - systematic review of randomized trials
Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
PubMed 32958070 · doi:10.1186/s12944-020-01384-7
What was done
Authors systematically searched Web of Science, Cochrane Library, PubMed, and Scopus through April 30, 2020, for English-language randomized clinical trials evaluating whey protein supplementation against controls in patients with metabolic syndrome and related disorders. Study quality was evaluated using the Cochrane risk of bias tool, heterogeneity was assessed via Cochrane's Q and I² statistics, and data were pooled using a random-effects model to calculate weighted mean differences (WMD).
What was found
Twenty-two studies were included. Whey protein supplementation resulted in statistically significant reductions in: - HbA1c (WMD: -0.15; 95% CI: -0.29 to -0.01) - Insulin (WMD: -0.94; 95% CI: -1.68 to -0.21) - HOMA-IR (WMD: -0.20; 95% CI: -0.36 to -0.05) - Triglycerides (WMD: -17.12; 95% CI: -26.52 to -7.72) - Total cholesterol (WMD: -10.88; 95% CI: -18.60 to -3.17) - LDL cholesterol (WMD: -8.47; 95% CI: -16.59 to -0.36) - Total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol ratio (WMD: -0.26; 95% CI: -0.41 to -0.10)
Why it matters
This meta-analysis provides pooled randomized trial evidence that whey protein supplementation confers modest improvements across multiple key glycemic and lipid markers in metabolic syndrome spectrum conditions.
Limits
The abstract does not report total participant sample size, intervention durations, dosages, or comparator types. Units of measurement for lipid and glycemic parameters are omitted. Search was restricted to English-language publications, and specific heterogeneity values are not provided in the abstract.
Cited by
- supports Randomized controlled trials indicate that while whey protein causes an acute insulin response, long-term insulin sensitivity does not worsen and may improve.