The effects of resveratrol on lipid profiles and liver enzymes in patients with metabolic syndrome and related disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Akbari M, Tamtaji OR, Lankarani KB, Tabrizi R, Dadgostar E, Kolahdooz F · Lipids in Health and Disease

The pooled liver-enzyme picture is quieter than any single trial suggests. Alanine aminotransferase did not change (weighted mean difference 0.14 U/L lower, 95% CI 3.69 lower to 3.41 higher) and neither did aspartate aminotransferase (0.34 U/L lower, 2.94 lower to 2.27 higher). Gamma-glutamyl transferase rose 1.76 U/L (0.58 to 2.94), the one enzyme that moved and the one whose pooled estimate carries low heterogeneity at 20.1 percent. Total cholesterol fell 7.65 mg/dL (12.93 to 2.37). Triglycerides, LDL and HDL cholesterol were all unchanged.

Population

Thirty-one randomised placebo-controlled trials in adults with metabolic syndrome or a related disorder, from 2,459 screened citations

Intervention

Oral resveratrol at 20 mg/day or more

Comparator

Placebo

Limitations

Heterogeneity is high on most estimates, 96 percent for LDL and about 80 to 88 percent for the transaminases, so a null here is a wide pool rather than a tight one. Searched to November 2018. The population is metabolic disease, not healthy people, and no trial in it measured a joint.