Nutraceuticals in Hyperlipidemic Children: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Background Dyslipidemia is a major risk for cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this study is to review the effects of nutraceuticals to modify lipid disorders in children. Materials and Methods The literature research was conducted in EMBASE, Medline, PubMed, Scopus, ISI Web of Science, and Cochrane library from 2002 until January 2015. The following keywords were used: dyslipidemia, hyperlipidemia, hypercholesterolemia, dietary intervention, nutraceutical, functional food, herbal treatment, non-chemical treatment, children, adolescents, clinical trial. Results 13 eligible articles were entered in this study. Consumption of nutraceuticals had significant negative effect sizes (weighted mean differences) for triglycerides (-0.97, 95% CI: -1.49, -0.46), total cholesterol (-0.96, 95% CI: -1.67, -0.26), and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (-0.54, 95% CI: 0.95, -0.13), it had positive effect size for changes of high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (0.43, 95% CI: 0.04, 0.82). Conclusion Findings of this metaanalysis suggest that consumption of nutraceuticals might have beneficial effects on improving dyslipidemia in the pediatric age group.