Meta-analysis of the Effect of Carbohydrates on Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors

Background As the leading cause of death in the world, cardiovascular diseases pose a serious threat to human health. Diet has attracted much attention as an important intervention, but the effect of carbohydrates on cardiovascular disease is unknown. Objective To analyze the evidence of the correlation between carbohydrate intake and cardiovascular disease risk. Methods Wanfang Data, CNKI, VIP, SinoMed, PubMed, Cochrane Library and Embase were searched by computer for randomized controlled trials on the risk of carbohydrates and cardiovascular disease published from inception to January 2023. Two researchers performed literature screening, data extraction, and quality evaluation separately. RevMan 5.3 was used for data analysis. Results A total of 16 randomized trials were included. Carbohydrate could significantly reduce triglyceride level by 0.17 mmol/L (95%CI=-0.24--0.10, P<0.000 01). The level of triglyceride decreased by 0.25 mmol/L (95%CI=-0.33--0.17, P<0.000 01) in carbohydrate diet intervention for less than 6 months, and 0.15 mmol/L (95%CI=-0.29--0.01, P=0.04) in 12-23 months group. Plasma HDL-C level increased by 0.09 mmol/L (95%CI=0.07-0.10, P<0.000 01), and plasma LDL-C level increased by 0.10 mmol/L (95%CI=0.02-0.17, P=0.01) . Conclusion The overall effect of low carbohydrate diet on cardiovascular risk factors is more favorable below 6 months and 6-11 months, but it has no significant effect on cardiovascular risk factors after 2 years, and its long-term effect needs further study.