The Effects of Oral Probiotics Supplementation in Overweight or Obese Postmenopausal Women: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Abstract Gut microbiota has been identified as a unique endocrine organ that linked to the development of cardiovascular disease and other illnesses that deteriorated in overweight or obese postmenopausal women. The object of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to assess the effects of the oral supplementation with probiotics for overweight or obese postmenopausal women. We made a systematic search for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from published to April 2022 in MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane library, Web of science and ClinicalTrials.gov. The risks of bias in individual studies was assessed with the Cochrane risk of bias tool for randomized trials (RoB 2.0). Two reviewers independently selected studies and collected data. There were 6 studies came from 5 RCTs included in this systematic review. Compared with placebo, probiotics supplementation group had reductions in insulin (MD -4.20 IU/L (95% CI -8.11 to -0.30 IU/L), I2 = 54%) and HOMA-IR (MD -1.25 (95% CI -2.49 to -0.01), I2 = 50%). It also showed the improvements in body adiposity, lipid profile and inflammation, but they were non-significant. In addition to body adiposity and cardiovascular risk markers, there was one trail showed administration of probiotics also had an effect on iron metabolism. In conclusion, probiotics have a potential beneficial for glucose metabolism in overweight or obese postmenopausal women, but the number of current studies is small, the results need to be interpreted with caution and explained by more studies in the future.