Alpha-lipoic acid supplementation reduces weight and BMI

Objectives:
There are numerous trials reported the effect of alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) on obesity measurements; while no summarised dose-response meta-analysis is available to address the effects of dose and duration of ALA supplementation on obesity measurements. Therefore, this review article has been conducted.

Does alpha-lipoic acid supplementation improve obesity measurements including weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist to hip ratio (WHR) and fat mass (FM)?

Study design:
This review article included 18, 21 and 8 RCTs of ALA-weight, ALA-BMI, ALA-WC, respectively.

Results and conclusions:
The investigators found in two-class meta-analysis, alpha-lipoic acid supplementation significantly reduced weight [WMD = -2.29 kg, 95% CI = -2.98 to -1.60, p 0.01] and BMI [WMD = -0.49 g/m², 95% CI = -0.83 to -0.15, p = 0.005] but had no effect on waist circumference [WMD = -2.57 cm, 95% CI = -8.91 to 3.76, p = 0.426].

The investigators found while the dose-response meta-analysis revealed that the duration of alpha-lipoic acid supplementation was a significant factor affecting waist circumference reduction [p non-linearity = 0.047].
While no evidence of departure from linearity was observed for other variables; moreover, subgrouping also revealed that gender could be an important factor affecting the alpha-lipoic acid impact on waist circumference, which was significant among women [WMD = -4.099, 95%CI = -7.837 to -0.361, p = 0.032].

The investigators concluded that alpha-lipoic acid supplementation reduces BMI, weight in a two-class meta-analysis without evidence of departure from linearity in terms of dose or duration. While the association of alpha-lipoic acid supplementation on waist circumference is dependent to the duration of the study. Although further trials evaluating the other obesity measurements specially central obesity will be helpful to infer a more reliable result.

Original title:
Alpha-lipoic acid supplementation significantly reduces the risk of obesity in an updated systematic review and dose response meta-analysis of randomised placebo-controlled clinical trials by Vajdi M and Farhangi MA.

Link:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32091656

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