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Meta-Analysis
. 2024 Jan 27;13(1):44.
doi: 10.1186/s13643-023-02430-y.

Effects of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation on appetite: a systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled clinical trials

Bahareh Sasanfar  1   2   3   4 , Fatemeh Toorang  3   5 , Amin Salehi-Abarghouei  6   7   8
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Effects of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation on appetite: a systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled clinical trials

Bahareh Sasanfar et al. Syst Rev. .

Abstract

Background: The current studies explore the effect of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) on appetite.

Objective: To examine the effect of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFAs) on appetite using a systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled clinical trials (CTs).

Patients and methods: Online databases including PubMed, Scopus, ISI Web of Science, and Google Scholar were searched up to January 2022. A random-effects model was used to compare the overall standardized mean difference in appetite scores between n-3 PUFAs supplemented and control individuals.

Results: Fifteen eligible CTs with 1504 participants (872 for n-3 PUFA supplementation and 632 for placebo groups) were included in our systematic review. The meta-analysis showed no significant difference in overall appetite score between n-3 PUFAs supplemented and control groups (standardized mean difference [SMD] = 0.458, 95% confidence interval [CI] - 0.327, 1.242, P value = 0.25). However, the n-3 PUFA supplementation significantly increased the desire to eat (SMD = 1.07, 95% CI 0.116, 2.029, P = 0.02) compared to control.

Conclusion: Although we found no effect of omega-3 supplementation on overall appetite score, it modestly increases the desire to eat. Further CTs evaluating the effect of PUFAs on appetite are still needed to confirm these findings.

Keywords: Appetite; Meta-analysis; Systematic review; Visual analog scale; n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow diagram of study screening
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Funnel plots (with pseudo 95% CI) depicting the effect sizes (difference in means) versus their standard errors (SEs) for controlled trials that assessed the effect of n-3 PUFA supplementation on appetite
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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