Effects of inulin-type fructans supplementation on cardiovascular disease risk factors: a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

Abstract

IntroductionThis review aims to assess the effects of dietary supplementation with inulin-type fructans (ITF) compared with no supplementation on cardiovascular disease risk factors in adults and assess the quality of trial reporting using the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) and CONSORT for abstract (CONSORT-A) checklists.Methods and analysisWe will search randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Emcare, AMED and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews from inception to 31 March 2022, without any language restrictions. The RCTs need to administer ITF in adults for at least 2 weeks and assess effects on at least one cardiovascular risk factor. We will exclude RCTs that (1) assessed the postprandial effects of ITF; (2) included pregnant or lactating participants; (3) enrolled participants undergoing treatment that might affect the response to ITF. We will assess the study risk of bias (RoB) using V.2 of the Cochrane RoB tool for RCTs (RoB 2) and the certainty of the evidence using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations (GRADE) approach. We will pool data using a random-effects model. We will use the χ2 test to compare compliance of CONSORT and CONSORT-A checklists and Poisson regression to identify factors associated with better reporting.Ethics and disseminationEthics approval is not required for secondary analysis of already published data. We will publish the reviews in a peer-review journal.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42019136745.

Assessment of reporting quality of randomized controlled trials investigating the effects of inulin-type fructans supplementation on cardiovascular disease risk factors: A systematic survey

“…We conducted a systematic survey of the literature with a comparison of mean, and domain-specific CONSORT scores, before and after CONSORT publication [ 1 ]. We established the methods of the study a priori and published the study protocol [ 14 ].…”

“…We reported the selection criteria for this study in detail in the published protocol [ 14 ]. In brief, we included RCTs that investigated the effects of inulin-type fructans (ITF) on cardiovascular disease risk factors (i.e., low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, fasting blood glucose, body mass index, body weight, waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, very-low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, total cholesterol, apolipoproteins A1 and B, and hemoglobin A1c) in adults (18 years or older).…”

Prebiotic oligofructose protects against high-fat diet-induced obesity by changing the gut microbiota, intestinal mucus production, glycosylation and secretion

“… 12–24 Moreover, in addition to that, FOS has also been linked with the improvement of the gut barrier function, cardiovascular health, mineral absorption, cancer, inflammation, colitis and immune system. 18 , 25–29 …”