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. 2022 Aug 18:9:985451.
doi: 10.3389/fnut.2022.985451. eCollection 2022.

The beneficial effects of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on controlling blood pressure: An umbrella meta-analysis

Affiliations

The beneficial effects of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on controlling blood pressure: An umbrella meta-analysis

Vali Musazadeh et al. Front Nutr. .

Abstract

Several meta-analyses have revealed that n-3 PUFAs can lower blood pressure, but the findings are conflicting. In this regard, the present umbrella meta-analysis aimed was performed to clarify whether n-3 PUFAs have effects on blood pressure. PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Web of Science, and Google Scholar were used as international databases from inception to May 2022. To examine the effects of n-3 PUFA supplementation on blood pressure, a random-effects model was applied. The leave-one-out method was performed for the sensitivity analysis. The pooled estimate of 10 meta-analyses with 20 effect sizes revealed significant reductions in both systolic (ES = -1.19 mmHg; 95% CI: -1.76, -0.62, p < 0.001) and diastolic blood pressure (ES = -0.91 mmHg, 95% CI: -1.35, -0.47; p < 0.001) following n-3 PUFAs supplementation. In studies with a sample size of ≤ 400 participants and a mean age over 45, SBP and DBP were found to be substantially reduced. Overall, this umbrella meta-analysis indicates that n-3 PUFAs supplementation might play a role in improving DBP and SBP.

Keywords: blood pressure; n-3 PUFAs; omega-3 fatty acid; systematic review; umbrella of meta-analysis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Flow diagram of study selection.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Mean difference and 95% CIs presented in forest plots of the studies on the effects of n-3 PUFA supplementation on DBP (A), and SBP (B) levels (a, b, c, d, etc. indicates a separate effect size for different diseases in each study).
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Mean difference and 95% CIs presented in funnel plots; and publication bias of the studies the effects of n-3 PUFA supplementation on DBP (A), and SBP (B) levels.

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