Table 1.
Characteristics of randomised controlled trials included in the review.
| Study Author/Year | Participants | Study Design/Blinding | Dietary Probiotic Intervention | Effect of Dietary Probiotic Supplement on Metabolic Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karamali et al. (2016) [34] | Iran, n 60 pregnant women with GDM in third trimester (age range 18–40 years) | Parallel RCT, double-blinded | Random assignment to 6-week probiotic or placebo capsules. Each probiotic capsule contained L. acidophilus (2 × 109 CFU/g), L. casei (2 × 109 CFU/g) and B. bifidum (2 × 109 CFU/g) | ↓ Fasting plasma glucose |
| ↓ HOMA-IR | ||||
| ↔ Total cholesterol | ||||
| ↔ LDL cholesterol | ||||
| ↓ VLDL cholesterol | ||||
| ↓ Triglyceride | ||||
| ↔ gestational weight gain | ||||
| Dolatkhah et al. (2015) [36] | Iran, n 64 pregnant women with GDM (mean age intervention 28.1 years, control 26.5 years; mean BMI intervention 31.4 kg/m2, control 29.9 kg/m2) | Parallel RCT, double-blinded | Random assignment to 8-week probiotic capsule with dietary advice or placebo capsule with dietary advice. Each probiotic capsule contained L. acidophilus LA-5, Bifidobacterium BB-12, S. thermophilus STY-31 and L. delbrueckii subsp. Bulgaricus LBY-27 (>4 × 109 CFU/g) | ↓ Fasting plasma glucose |
| ↓ HOMA-IR | ||||
| ↓ gestational weight gain | ||||
| Jafarnejad et al. (2016) [35] | Iran, n 82 pregnant women with GDM (mean age intervention 32.4 years control 31.9 years; mean BMI intervention 26.8 kg/m2, control 27.4 kg/m2) | Parallel RCT, double-blinded | Random assignment to 8-week probiotic or placebo capsules. Each probiotic capsule contained VSL#3 (S. thermophilus, B. breve, B. longum, B. infantis, L. acidophilus, L. plantarum, L. paracasei, L. delbrueckii subsp. Bulgaricus, 15 × 109 CFU/g) | ↓ Fasting plasma glucose |
| ↔ gestational weight gain | ||||
| ↓ HOMA-IR | ||||
| ↓ Interleukin-6 | ||||
| ↓ Tumor Necrosis Factor-aplha | ||||
| ↓ hs-CRP | ||||
| Lindsay et al. (2015) [33] | Ireland, n 149 women with GDM (mean age intervention 33.5 years control 32.6 years; mean BMI intervention 29.1 kg/m2, control 29.0 kg/m2) | Parallel RCT, double-blinded | Random assignment to 6-week probiotic or placebo capsules. Each capsule contained L. salivarius UCC118 (1 × 109 CFU/g) | ↔ Fasting plasma glucose |
| ↔ HOMA-IR | ||||
| ↔ C-peptide | ||||
| ↓ Total cholesterol | ||||
| ↔ CRP | ||||
| ↔ Triglyceride | ||||
| ↓ LDL cholesterol | ||||
| ↔ HDL cholesterol | ||||
| ↔ gestational weight gain |
RCT: Randomised Controlled Trial; GDM: Gestational Diabetes Mellitus; HOMA-IR score: homeostatic model of assessment of insulin resistance; hs-CRP: High sensitivity C-reactive protein; HDL cholesterol: High density lipoprotein; LDL cholesterol: Low density lipoprotein; HbA1c: Glycosylated haemoglobin; n: number of participants randomised; ↓ significantly lower than that in the comparison control group after intervention; ↑ significantly higher than that in the comparison control group after intervention; ↔ no significant difference between the probiotic-supplemented and control groups after intervention.