DOES GLUTAMINE SUPPLEMENTATION HAVE FAVORABLE EFFECTS ON DIABETES-RELATED INDICES A META-ANALYSIS, AND DOSE-RESPONSE OF RANDOMIZED CLINICAL TRIALS

Background and Aim: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of all published randomized controlled trials to determine and quantify the anti-hyperglycemic effects of glutamine (GLN) in acute and chronic clinical settings. Methods: We conducted a comprehensive search of all randomized clinical trials performed up to December 2017, to identify those investigating the impact of GLN supplementation on fasting blood sugar (FBS), insulin levels, and HOMA-IR via PubMed, SCOPUS databases. A meta-analysis of eligible studies was conducted using random effects model to estimate the pooled effect size. Fractional polynominal modeling was used to explore the dose-response relationships between GLN supplementation and the diabetic indices.The results of the present meta-analysis suggest that of GLN supplementation had a significant effect on FBS (WMD:-4.04 mg/dl, 95% CI: -6.31, -1.76, p = 0.01). However, we failed to observe that GLN supplementation affected insulin levels (WMD: 1.06 units, 95% CI: -1.13, 3.26, p = 0.34) and HOMA-IR (WMD: -0.38 units, 95% CI: -1.38, 0.61, p = 0.08). Subgroup analyses showed that the highest decrease in FBS levels was observed when the duration of intervention was less than 2 weeks (WMD:-6.253 mg/dl, 95% CI: -12.384, -0.121, p = 0.04) and when the intervention was via infusion(WMD:-5.334 mg/dl, 95% CI: -10.48, 0.17, p = 0.04).Conclusion: The results from this meta-analysis show that GLN supplementation did not have a significant effect on insulin levels and HOMA-IR. However, it did significantly reduce the levels of FBS, obtaining a higher effect when the duration of the intervention period was less than 2 weeks.

Keywords:

Glutamine , Meta-Analysis , FBS , Insulin level , and HOMA-IR