Does anthocyanins consumption affect weight and body composition? A systematic review and meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Anthocyanins (ACNs) are water‐soluble plant pigments belong to flavonoids with beneficial effects on health and disease prevention. Some studies have examined the effect of ACNs on anthropometric and body composition indices, but the findings were inconsistent. This systematic review and meta‐analysis aimed to investigate the effect of ACNs and sources rich in anthocyanins on body mass index (BMI), body weight (BW), waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC), waist‐hip ratio (WHR), percentage of fat mass (PFM) and fat free mass (FFM). METHODS: PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar were searched with no limitation until May 2021 to find relevant randomized controlled clinical trials (RCT). The risk of bias was assessed utilizing Cochrane collaboration's tool. Weighted mean differences (WMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were obtained using a random effects model. RESULTS: A total of 31 RCTs (with 0.77–640 mg/day of ACNs supplementation for 28–90 days) with 1438 participants were included. No significant effect was found in BMI, WC, HC, WHR, PFM and FFM after ACNs consumption. CONCLUSIONS: The results showed that ACNs did not significantly affect anthropometric and body composition parameters. Further high‐quality RCTs are required to validate these findings.