Effects of Sesame Consumption on Inflammatory Biomarkers in Humans: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

Objectives: Existing evidence produces conflicting findings regarding the effect of sesame intake on inflammatory biomarkers; this knowledge gap has yet to be met through systematic review and meta-analysis. This meta-analysis of randomized, controlled clinical trials (RCTs) was conducted to evaluate the effects of sesame consumption on markers of inflammation in humans.

Methods: PubMed, Scopus, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews were searched through August 2020 to identify relevant papers for inclusion. Using the random-effects model, data were evaluated as weighted mean differences (WMD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Cochrane's and -squared ( ) tests were used to identify within-studies heterogeneity.

Results: Seven RCTs with 310 participants (157 intervention and 153 control) were included in the meta-analysis. Sesame consumption reduced serum level interleukin-6 (IL-6) (WMD - 0.90; 95% CI (-1.71, -0.09),  = 80.4%) compared to the control group. However, sesame intake had no significant effects on C-reactive protein (CRP) and tumor necrosis factor- (TNF-) compared to the control group. Subgroup analysis identified a reduction in serum CRP, TNF-, and IL-6 concentration among studies with participants who had a higher level of these biomarkers at baseline, those which used sesamin capsules, and those with a bigger sample size, those conducted in Asia, and studies on females.

Conclusion: Sesame consumption reduced serum levels of IL-6 but did not affect CRP and TNF- in humans. Additional trials should be conducted utilizing a larger and longer treatment duration, along with studies using different sesame formulations (capsule, oil, and seed) and conducting on participants with varied health conditions.