Barberry (Berberis vulgaris L.) is a safe approach for management of lipid parameters: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy of barberry supplementation on plasma lipid concentration in adult population.The search included PubMed, Scopus, ISI Web of Science, Cochrane library, and Google Scholar (up to October 2018) to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the effects of barberry supplementation on serum lipid parameters. Mean Difference (MD) was pooled using a random-effects model.Meta-analysis on 5 RCTs with 339 participants indicated that barberry supplementation significantly decreased the levels of total cholesterol (MD: -23.58 mg/dl, 95% CI: -31.00 to -16.16, P ≤ 0.001), triglyceride (MD: -29.16 mg/dl, 95% CI: -42.91 to -15.41, P ≤ 0.001), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (MD: -13.75 mg/dl, 95% CI: -19.31 to -8.20, P ≤ 0.001) whereas changes in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (MD: 3.40 mg/dl, 95% CI: -0.06-6.87, P = 0.054) was not statistically significant.This systematic review and meta-analysis suggested the efficacy of barberry supplementation on lipid parameters. However, further large-scale studies are needed to confirm these results.