Abstract
Knowledge regarding the anti-inflammatory capability of quercetin remains inconclusive and controversial due to the heterogeneous methods and inconsistent results of RCTs. We performed a series of meta-analyses of RCTs to evaluate the impact of quercetin supplementation on inflammatory biomarkers. Three cytokines (CRP, IL-6, TNF-α) with enough eligible studies (n = 6, 5 and 4, respectively) were selected for further meta-analyses. Data from these RCTs were pooled, and both overall effect and stratified subgroup analyses were performed. No relevant overall effects on peripheral CRP, IL-6 and TNF-α were observed. Subgroup analyses revealed a significant reduction in circulating CRP in participants with diagnosed diseases (SMD: –0.24, 95% CI: –0.49, 0.00) and IL-6 in females (SMD: –1.37, 95% CI: –1.93, –0.81), subjects with diagnosed diseases (SMD: –1.37, 95% CI: –1.93, –0.81) and with high-dose interventions (SMD: –0.69, 95% CI: –1.10, –0.38). In conclusion, consumption of quercetin is a promising therapeutic strategy for chronic disease management.
Acknowledgements
We thank American Journal Experts (www.aje.com) for its linguistic assistance during the preparation of this manuscript.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.