Table 1.
Characteristics of the included randomized controlled trails (RCTs).
| First Author (year) | Country | RCT Design | Sample Number | Male (%) | Age (year) | Health Status | Intervention Duration | Intervention Products | Main Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ramamoorthy et al. [51] (1996) | India | NA | 20 | NA | 40–60 | Hypercholesterolemia subjects | 3 months | Spirulina (2 g/day; 4 g/day) | TG, TC |
| Parikh et al. [35] (2001) | India | Parallel | 25 | 60% | 46–61 | patients with type 2 diabetes | 2 months | Spirulina tablets (1 g/day) | HbA1c, FPG, 2hPBG, LDL–C, HDL–C, TG, TC |
| Samules et al. [50] (2002) | India | Parallel | 23 | 74% | 3–12 | patients with hyperlipidemic nephrotic syndrome | 2 months | Spray–dried spirulina capsules (3 g/day) | FPG, LDL–C, HDL–C, TG, TC |
| Sansawa et al. [37] (2002) | Japan | NA | 20 | 40% | 45–64 | Hyperlipidemia subjects | 3 months | Chlorella (3 g/day) | LDL–C, HDL–C, TG, TC |
| Lee et al. [34] (2008) | Korea | Parallel | 37 | 54% | 49–56 | patients with type 2 diabetes | 12 weeks | Spirulina pills from freeze–dried spirulina (8 g/day) | HbA1c, FPG, Insulin LDL–C, HDL–C, TG, TC |
| Park et al. [52] (2008) | Korea | Parallel | 43; 36 | 100% | 64–68 | males aged 60–87; females aged 60–87 | 16 weeks | Freezedried spirulina pills (8 g/day) | LDL–C, HDL–C, TG, TC |
| Sun et al. [31] (2008) | Korea | NA | 20 | 45% | 51–58 | patients with type 2 diabetes | 4 weeks | Pills with sea tangle and sea mustard (48 g/day) | FPG, 2hPBG |
| Anitha et al. [36] (2010) | India | Parallel | 80 | 100% | 45–60 | patients with type 2 diabetes | 12 weeks | Spirulina capsules and diet modification (1 g/day) | LDL–C, HDL–C, TG, TC |
| Kwak et al. [46] (2012) | Korea | Parallel | 51 | 39% | 30–38 | healthy subjects | 8 weeks | Chlorella (5 g/day) | LDL–C, HDL–C, TG, TC |
| Panahi et al. [43] (2012) | Iran | NA | 63 | 27% | 51–73 | dyslipidemic subjects | 8 weeks | Chlorella and atorvastatin (0.6 g/day) | FPG, LDL–C, HDL–C, TG, TC |
| Miyazawa et al. [45] (2013) | Japan | Parallel | 12 | 58% | 50–65 | nomal senior subjects | 2 months | Chlorella (8 g/day) | FPG, LDL–C, HDL–C, TG, TC |
| Diana et al. [54] (2014) | Mexico | Parallel | 21 | 29% | 38–53 | overweight or obese adult | 3 months | Fucoidan (0.5 g/day) | FPG, 2hPBG, HOMA–IR, insulin, LDL–C, TG, TC |
| Merhrangiz et al. [42] (2014) | Iran | Parallel | 55 | 55% | 20–50 | obese patients with NAFLD | 8 weeks | Chlorella (1.2 g/day) | FPG, insulin, LDL–C, HDL–C, TG, TC |
| Hong et al. [32] (2015) | Korea | Cross–over | 73 | 71% | 45–62 | pre–diabetic adults | 12 weeks | Tablets with AG–dieckol (1.5 g/day) | HbA1c, FPG, 2hPBG, Insulin |
| Maryam et al. [30] (2015) | Iran | Parallel | 49 | 18% | 48–65 | patients with type 2 diabetes | 12 weeks | Capsules of Aogenizomenon extract (3 g/day) | HbA1c, FPG, LDL–C, HDL–C, TG, TC |
| Otsuki et al. [44] (2015) | Japan | Parallel | 32 | 41% | 45–75 | adult subjects | 4 weeks | Chlorella (6 g/day) | LDL–C, HDL–C, TG |
| Akiko et al. [55] (2016) | Japan | Parallel | 34 | 97% | 40–56 | healthy subjects, BMI ≥ 23 | 16 weeks | Trehalose (10 g/day) | FPG, 2hPBG, HOMA–IR, insulin, HbA1c |
| Alam et al. [33] (2016) | India | NA | 40 | NA | 35–54 | patients with type 2 diabetes | 45 days | Spirulina powder (14 g/day) | HbA1c, FPG, 2hPBG |
| Jensen et al. [53] (2016) | America | Parallel | 24 | 21% | 25–62 | adult men and women 25–65 years of age | 2 weeks | Phycocyaninenriched aqueous extract from Spirulina platensis (2.3 g/day) | FPG |
| Kim et al. [47] (2016) | Korea | Parallel | 34 | 12% | 22–25 | healthy subjects | 4 weeks | Chlorella (5 g/day) | LDL–C, HDL–C, TC |
| Park et al. [39] (2016) | Korea | Parallel | 45; 33 | NA | 64–69 | Non–obese subjects; obese subjects | 12 weeks | Spirulina (8 g/day) | LDL–C, HDL–C, TG, TC |
| Mikami et al. [38] (2017) | Japan | Parallel | 39; 40 | 67%; 73% | 50–60 | obese subjects, BMI ≥ 22 | 8 weeks | Fucoidan (1 g/day; 2g/day) | FPG, insulin, HbA1c, LDL–C, HDL–C, TC |
| Szulinska et al. [48] (2017) | Poland | Parallel | 50 | 50% | 40–58 | subjects with treated hypertension | 12 weeks | Spirulina capsules (2 g/day) | LDL–C, HDL–C, TG, TC |
| Zeinalian et al. [49] (2017) | Iran | Parallel | 56 | 16% | 25–43 | obese individuals | 12 weeks | Spirulina platensis supplement (1 g/day) | LDL–C, HDL–C, TG, TC |
| Yousefi et al. [41] (2018) | Iran | Parallel | 38 | 18% | 31–51 | obese and overweight subjects | 12 weeks | Spirulina (2 g/day) | LDL–C, HDL–C, TC |
| Kim et al. [40] (2019) | Korea | Parallel | 78 | 40% | 27–46 | obese or overweight individuals | 12 weeks | Gelidium elegans (1 g/day) | FPG, HOMA–IR, insulin, LDL–C, HDL–C, TG, TC |
| Sakai et al. [29] (2019) | Japan | Cross–over | 30 | 73% | 30–79 | patients with type 2 diabetes | 28 weeks | Fucoidan (1.62 g/day) | HbA1c, FPG, Insulin, LDL–C, HDL–C, TG, TC |