The Effect of Plant-Derived Low-Ratio Linoleic Acid/α-Linolenic Acid on Markers of Glucose Controls: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The objective of this meta-analysis was to examine the impact of a low-ratio linoleic acid/α-linolenic acid (LA/ALA) diet on the glycemic profile of adults. A comprehensive search was performed across four databases (Web of Science, Scopus, Embase, and PubMed) to evaluate the influence of the low-ratio LA/ALA. Relevant references were screened up until February 2023. Intervention effects were analyzed by calculating change values as weighted mean differences (WMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) using fixed-effects models. Additionally, subgroup analysis and meta-regression were employed to investigate potential sources of heterogeneity. Twenty-one randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included, and the low-ratio LA/ALA diet had no significant effect on fasting blood sugar (FBS, WMD: 0.00 mmol/L, 95% CI: −0.06, 0.06, p = 0.989, I(2) = 0.0%), insulin levels (WMD: 0.20 μIU/mL, 95% CI: −0.23, 0.63, p = 0.360, I(2) = 3.2%), homeostatic model assessment insulin resistance (HOMA-IR, WMD: 0.09, 95% CI: −0.06, 0.23, p = 0.243, I(2) = 0.0%), and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c, WMD: −0.01%, 95% CI: −0.07, 0.06, p = 0.836, I(2) = 0.0%). Based on subgroup analyses, it was observed that the impact of a low-ratio LA/ALA diet on elevated plasma insulin (WMD: 1.31 μIU/mL, 95% CI: 0.08, 2.54, p = 0.037, I(2) = 32.0%) and HOMA-IR (WMD: 0.47, 95% CI: 0.10, 0.84, p = 0.012, I(2) = 0.0%) levels exhibited greater prominence in North America compared to Asian and European countries. Publication bias was not detected for FBS, insulin, HOMA-IR, and HbA1c levels according to the Begg and Egger tests. Furthermore, the conducted sensitivity analyses indicated stability, as the effects of the low-ratio LA/ALA diet on various glycemic and related metrics remained unchanged even after removing individual studies. Overall, based on the available studies, it can be concluded that the low-ratio LA/ALA diet has limited impact on blood glucose-related biomarker levels.