The effect of Salvia officinalis on blood glycemic indexes and blood lipid profile in diabetic patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Diabetes is one of the most common endocrine disorders that increases the economic burden on the public health system. In this regard, understanding the effect of available herbs on diabetes can be useful. This systematic review was performed to determine the effect of Salvia officinalis on blood glycemic indexes and blood lipid profile (primary outcomes) and 2 h postprandial blood glucose (2HPPG), alanine transaminase (ALT) (U/L) and aspartate transaminase (AST) (U/L) and its side effects (secondary outcomes) in diabetic patients. A systematic search was conducted in the English (Cochrane Library, Medline (PubMed), Scopus, CINAHL, ProQuest and Persian databases since inception to March 2021, without publication time restriction. Two authors separately evaluated the quality of the articles using Cochrane Collaboration’s tool for assessing the risk of bias in randomized trials and extracted the data. Heterogeneity of data was evaluated by squared I ( I 2 ). Three studies included in the review and all of them included in meta-analysis. The results of meta-analysis showed that S. officinalis reduced fasting blood sugar (FBS) (mg/dL) (MD: −31.15; 95% CI: −37.56 to −24.73; p<0.00001). It also reduced HbA1c (%) (MD: −0.94; 95% CI: −1.25 to −0.63; p<0.00001) and total cholesterol (mg/dL) (MD: −43.64; 95% CI: −83.26 to −4.02; p=0.03) and reduction of low-density protein (LDL) (mg/dL) (MD: −19.23; 95% CI: −35.81 to −2.65; p=0.02) but it did not have a significant effect on triglyceride (mg/dL) (p=0.09), and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) (mg/dL) (p=0.18). Regarding the secondary outcomes, S. officinalis also had significant effect on 2HPPG, but it did not have a significant effect on ALT (U/L) and AST (U/L). No specific side effects for this plant were reported in these three studies. The results showed that S. officinalis has a positive effect on blood glycemic status and blood lipid profile in diabetes except for triglyceride and HDL. However, due to the small number of included articles, it is recommended that stronger clinical trials be conducted in this field.