engleski

Efficacy and safety of beta-glucan - current evidence base from clinical trials

Beta-glucans are polysaccharides widely found in bacteria, fungi, algae, and plants that are sold and advertised as biologically active compounds, with various health claims. They are commonly recommended for their presumed cholesterol- lowering effect and the effect on postprandial blood glucose. It has also been reported that beta-glucans boost the immune system, thereby providing resistance against infections or cancer development. With the increasing number of studies reporting clinical trials with beta- glucans, it is a challenge for clinicians and nutrition experts to keep up with the literature. The lecture will give an overview of beta-glucan biological activities and present the results of systematic review undertaken to summarize the results about efficacy and safety of commercial oral and inhalation beta-glucan products. The systematic review included any commercial product, any types of participants and any health-related outcomes that was investigated in randomized controlled clinical trial (RCT). After searching MEDLINE, CENTRAL and ClinicalTrials.gov databases, 30 RCT were included in the final analysis. Most of the trials reported beneficial effect of beta-glucan, but among the 105 different outcome domains and measures that were used, only three could be considered clinically relevant, while others were various biomarkers and surrogate outcomes such as complete blood count. Included studies on average had 33 participants per study arm, high or unclear risk of bias of at least one domain, and only half of them reported data for safety. More than half of trials that reported source of funding indicated commercial sponsorship from producers of beta- glucan. Only five RCTs reported trial registration. In conclusion, the findings of these trials may be considered only as preliminary, as they used small number of participants and surrogate outcomes. The quality of many studies was poor and further research and trials on bigger population should be performed before a final conclusion can be made.

beta-glucan ; bioactivity ; randomized controlled trial

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