TABLE 5.

Summary estimates for primary and secondary outcomes at short term and long term derived from meta-analyses on 3 comparisons from 26 trials¹

Intervention	Comparison	Outcomes	Studies, n	Participants, n	MD	95% CI	P value	In favor of	Tau-squared	I-squared
Probiotics	Placebo/no intervention	Short term
		Primary Outcomes
		Fasting blood glucose	8	428	–12.99	(–23.55, –2.42)	0.016	Probiotics	0.005	65.7
		HbA1c	4	231	–0.17	(–0.37, 0.02)	0.084	—	0.194	36.3
		Secondary Outcomes
		Serum insulin	5	296	–0.98	(–2.38, 0.42)	0.170	—	0.122	45.0
		Triglyceride	5	281	–20.98	(–63.96, 22.01)	0.339	—	0.021	65.3
		Cholesterol	4	241	–10.69	(–19.53, –1.85)	0.018	Probiotics	0.680	0
		LDL-C	5	281	–9.55	(–17.13, –1.98)	0.013	Probiotics	0.942	0
		HDL-C	5	281	3.25	(–0.05, 6.54)	0.054	—	0.176	36.8
		Long term
		Primary outcomes
		Fasting blood glucose	12	805	–2.99	(–5.84, –0.13)	0.040	Probiotics	0.774	0
		HbA1c	7	572	–0.14	(–0.34, 0.06)	0.172	—	0.001	72.1
		Secondary outcomes
		Serum insulin	9	474	–1.79	(–3.33, –0.24)	0.023	Probiotics	0.011	59.4
		Triglyceride	10	516	–12.39	(–23.78, –0.99)	0.033	Probiotics	0.195	27.0
		Cholesterol	10	516	–4.77	(–9.20, 0.33)	0.035	Probiotics	0.981	0
		LDL-C	8	420	–2.67	(–7.48, 2.14)	0.277	—	0.886	0
		HDL-C	9	488	1.49	(–0.47, 3.46)	0.136	—	0.030	53.0
Synbiotics	Prebiotics	Short term
		Primary outcomes
		Fasting blood glucose	2	114	–19.52	(–32.42, –6.62)	0.003	Synbiotics	0.341	0
		HbA1c	1	54	–0.48	(–1.43, 0.47)	0.320	—	.	.
		Secondary outcomes
		Serum insulin	2	114	–1.66	(–3.72, 0.40)	0.115	—	0.510	0
		Triglyceride	2	114	–8.71	(–28.79, 11.37)	0.395	—	0.568	0
		Cholesterol	2	114	–4.92	(–19.17, 9.33)	0.499	—	0.694	0
		LDL-C	2	114	–3.59	(–13.60, 6.43)	0.483	—	0.870	0
		HDL-C	2	114	0.99	(–2.70, 4.69)	0.598	—	0.560	0
Probiotics	Control probiotics	Long term
		Primary outcomes
		Fasting blood glucose	3	165	–8.56	(–37.19, 20.08)	0.558	—	0.017	75.5
		HbA1c	3	165	–0.15	(–0.55, 0.25)	0.452	—	0.547	0
		Secondary outcomes
		Serum insulin	2	115	0.35	(–1.28, 1.98)	0.672	—	0.853	0
		Triglyceride	3	165	–2.39	(–29.69, 24.91)	0.864	—	0.264	24.9
		Cholesterol	3	165	–9.95	(–31.42, 11.53)	0.364	—	0.061	64.2
		LDL-C	3	165	–2.08	(–14.46, 10.31)	0.742	—	0.208	36.3
		HDL-C	3	165	0.29	(–3.30, 3.88)	0.873	—	0.996	0

¹There are 20 trials in probiotics versus placebo or no intervention comparison, 2 trials in synbiotics versus prebiotics, and 4 trials in probiotics versus control probiotics (total 26 trials) that reported sufficient data to permit meta-analysis; HbA1c, glycated hemoglobin; MD, mean difference; short term is defined as <12 wk; long term is defined as ≥12 wk.