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Published on: March 7, 2025
Effects of low glycemic index/load diets on metabolic and inflammatory markers in humans: a meta-analysis
Zijing Wu1, Yao Xu1, Linjie Qiu2
1Graduate School, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China.
Objective:
To evaluate the potential associations between low glycemic index (LGI) and low glycemic load (LGL) diets and variations in body weight, lipid profiles, and inflammatory markers through a meta-analysis.
Methods:
Systematic searches were conducted in PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Google Scholar for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published through November 2025 (PROSPERO: CRD420251247827). Standardized mean differences (SMDs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using random-effects or fixed-effects models.
Results:
21 RCTs (n = 1,265) were included. Meta-analytic evidence suggested that LGI/LGL diets were potentially associated with reductions in body weight (SMD = -1.09, I2 = 92%), body mass index (BMI) (SMD = -1.39, I2 = 93%), total cholesterol (TC) (SMD = -0.91, I2 = 94%), triglycerides (TG) (SMD = -0.66, I2 = 92%), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (SMD = -1.40, I2 = 95%), alongside an elevation in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (SMD = 0.67, I2 = 88%). Significant attenuations were also identified in C-reactive protein (SMD = -0.86, I2 = 91%), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) (SMD = -0.41, I2 = 0%), interleukin-6 (IL-6) (SMD = -0.55, I2 = 82%), and leptin (LEP) (SMD = -1.11, I2 = 90%). However, no significant change was found for adiponectin (APN). Crucially, profound statistical heterogeneity was observed across the majority of metabolic outcomes.
Conclusion:
Current evidence suggests that LGI/LGL diets may favorably modulate body weight, lipid metabolism, and specific inflammatory markers. Nevertheless, these pooled estimates must be interpreted with extreme caution due to profound inter-study heterogeneity, suboptimal methodological quality of the included trials, and the statistical instability of TNF-α and IL-6. Consequently, this meta-analysis underscores the limitations of the existing literature rather than establishing definitive clinical efficacy.
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