SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutrition and Metabolism
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1634545
Network Meta-analysis of the Effects of Different Dietary Patterns on Patients with Metabolic Syndrome
Provisionally accepted
- 1Shanxi Bethune Hospital, Taiyuan, China
- 2Shanxi University of Chinese Medicine, Taiyuan, China
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Background: Dietary patterns play an important role in the management of metabolic syndrome (MetS). Previous meta-analyses have shown that ketogenic diet, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension(DASH) diet, vegetarian diet, Mediterranean diet, low-fat diet, and low-carbohydrate diet are beneficial for patients with MetS, but there is still a lack of direct comparison of the intervention effects of the above six dietary patterns. Objective: To explore the intervention efficacy of different dietary patterns on MetS, and to evaluate and compare the corresponding effects. Methods: A comprehensive search was carried out in electronic databases such as Embase, Cochrane Library, PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, and CBM. The search covered studies published from the establishment of the databases up to April 1, 2025, with a focus on dietary patterns that can improve Metabolic Syndrome.A network meta-analysis was carried out using Stata 16.0 software. Results: Eventually, 26 randomized controlled trials were included, involving 2,255 patients. The results of the network meta-analysis showed that the DASH diet [MD=-5.72, 95%CI (-9.74, -1.71)] and the vegan diet [MD=-12.00, 95%CI (-18.96, -5.04)] were more effective in reducing the waist circumference of patients with MetS than the control diet group. In terms of lowering blood pressure, the DASH diet [MD=-5.99, 95%CI (-10.32, -1.65)] and the ketogenic diet [MD=-11.00, 95%CI (-17.56, -4.44)] were more effective in reducing systolic blood pressure in patients with MetS than the control diet group ; The ketogenic diet [MD=-9.40, 95%CI (-13.98, -4.82)] was more effective in reducing diastolic blood pressure in patients with MetS than the control diet group (P < 0.05). According to the ranking results, a vegan diet is the best choice in terms of reducing waist circumference and increasing high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. The ketogenic diet is highly effective in lowering blood pressure and triglyceride levels. The Mediterranean diet is highly effective in regulating fasting blood glucose. Conclusion: Current evidence indicates that the vegan diet, ketogenic diet, and Mediterranean diet might have more pronounced effects in ameliorating MetS. Further high-quality research is needed to validate these findings.
Keywords: metabolic syndrome, Dietary patterns, randomized controlled trial, Dietary interventions, Network meta-analysis
Received: 24 May 2025; Accepted: 01 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 LV, Jiao, Li, Ding, Ma and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Qian Zhang, zhangqian@d.sxmu.edu.cn
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