EFFECTS OF PROBIOTIC AND SYNBIOTIC SUPPLEMENTATION ON BMI Z-SCORE AND WAIST CIRCUMFERENCE IN OVERWEIGHT AND OBESE CHILDREN: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS

Background and Aim: Childhood obesity is major public health challenge that its prevalence are increasing considerably around the world. Both probiotics and synbiotics are well known functional foods that can be considered as a new tool in combating overweight and obesity. Therefore, present systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to determine the effects of probiotic and symbiotic supplementation on BMI z-score and waist circumference (WC) in overweight and obese children.Methods: Pertinent publications were identified by searching PubMed, Scopus, ISI web of science and Google scholar databases up to July 2018. The overall effect for each outcome was calculated using random effects model.Results: Of the 570 citations reviewed, 369 children (91 probiotic, 99 synbiotic and 179 control) from 7 eligible RCTs representing five papers for BMI z-score and four papers for WC were included. Overall, there was no significant effect of probiotic and synbiotic supplementation on changes in BMI z-score and WC relative to baseline, and there was a mean difference of − 0.12 (95% CI: − 0.25 to 0.01) and − 0.28 (95% CI: − 2.03 to 1.47) for BMI z-score and WC, respectively. However, subgroup analyses based on intervention duration revealed that probiotic and synbiotic supplementation for 12 weeks or higher significantly reduced BMI z-score in the participants (-0.19, 95% CI: -0.36 to -0.01). Conclusion: The results indicated that long-term supplementation with probiotic and synbiotic can improve the BMI z-score in overweight and obese children, but the change WC was not satisfactory. However, a need exists for additional studies on this topic.

کلیدواژه ها:

Probiotic ، Synbiotic ، Obesity ، Body mass index ، Children