Effects of propolis supplementation on glycemic status, lipid profiles, inflammation and oxidative stress, liver enzymes, and body weight: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials

The aim of meta-analysis was to assess the effects of propolis on markers of oxidative stress, lipid profiles, inflammation and glycemic control, liver enzymes, and weight control. The heterogeneity between the included studies was indicated using the Cochrane’s Q test and I-square (I 2 ) statistic. 14 trials were included in this meta-analysis. Our meta-analysis indicated a significant reduction in fating glucose (WMD: -17.00; 95% CI: −30.88, −3.11), HbA1C (WMD: -0.42; 95% CI: −0.75, −0.10), and insulin (WMD: -1.75; 95% CI: −3.24, −0.26) and a marginally significant reduction in insulin resistance (WMD: -0.60; 95% CI: −1.20, 0.00) following propolis supplementation in 10, 8, 6, and 5 studies, respectively. Pooling 5 effect sizes, a significant reduction was seen in ALT (WMD: -5.63; 95% CI: −10.59, −0.67) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (WMD: -3.09; 95% CI: −5.15, −1.03) following propolis. A significant beneficial effect was observed for CRP (WMD: -1.11; 95% CI: −1.92, −0.29), TNF-α (WMD: -6.71; 95% CI: −9.44, −3.98) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) (WMD: -17.99; 95% CI: −35.56, −0.42) concentrations after propolis supplementation. This study demonstrated the beneficial effects of propolis on FPG, HbA1c, insulin, CRP, TNF-α and liver enzymes levels.