The effect of cranberry supplementation on Helicobacter pylori eradication in H. pylori positive subjects: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

Abstract

Helicobacter pylori infection is one of the most common chronic bacterial infections. Cranberry has been suggested for Helicobacter pylori eradication. We aimed to conduct the first meta-analysis to summarize current evidence on effects of cranberry supplementation on Helicobacter pylori eradication in H. pylori positive subjects. We searched the online databases up to December 2020. Four randomized clinical trials (RCTs) were included with human subjects, investigating the effect of cranberry on Helicobacter pylori eradication. The pooled results were expressed as the odds ratio with 95% confidence intervals. Based on 5 effect sizes with a total sample size of 1935 individuals, we found that according to the odds ratio, there was a positive effect of cranberry supplementation on Helicobacter pylori eradication, increasing the chance of Helicobacter pylori eradication by 1.27 times, but this relationship was not statistically significant (overall OR: 1.27; 95% CI: 0.63, 2.58). The results also indicated the moderate between-study heterogeneity (I2=63.40%; P=0.03) of the studies. However, there were no significant differences in some subgroup analyses in the duration of treatment, the duration of follow up and the Jadad score. Our findings revealed that although cranberry had a positive effect on Helicobacter pylori eradication in adults, this effect was not statistically significant. Due to the small number of included studies and moderate heterogeneities, the potential of cranberry supplementation on Helicobacter pylori eradication should be validated in large, multicenter, and well-designed RCTs in the future.