Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Review Article

Clinical Evidence and Potential Mechanisms of Complementary Treatment of Ling Gui Zhu Gan Formula for the Management of Serum Lipids and Obesity

Table 1

The characteristics of studies included.


Included studies (authors, year)	Type of intervention	Sample size (T/C)	Sex (M/W)	Average age (year)	Course of disease (year)	Treatment duration	Dosage (form)	Outcomes

Chen (2012)	T : CT + LGZG + WM	41/41	45/37	T:56.53 ± 7.89	T:7.63 ± 3.78	12 weeks	100 ml×2 (D)	TG, TC, LDL-c, HDL-c, FPG, 2h-PG, HbAlc, FINS, HOMA-IR, BMI
	C : CT + WM			C:57.25 ± 6.17	C:7.52 ± 3.61
Du et al. (2019)	T : LGZG + WM	62/63	73/52	T:59.18 ± 4.62	T:4.69 ± 2.12	1 month	1dose (D)	TC, TG, HDL-c
	C : WM			C:58.27 ± 4.31	C:4.73 ± 2.03
Han and Zhang (2016)	T : LGZG + WM	40/40	44/36	T:73 ± 1.9	T:4.1 ± 1.8	2 months	4g×3 (G)	TG, TC, LDL-c, HDL-c
	C : WM			C:71 ± 2.3	C:3.7 ± 2
Huang (2016)	T : CT + LGZG	63/63	79/47	T:37.96 ± 8.89	NA	4 weeks	1dose (D)	TG, TC, SBP, DBP, BMI
	C : CT			C:38.56 ± 6.89
Huang et al. (2017)	T : CT + LGZG	36/36	39/33	T:43.3 ± 16.21	T:11.32 ± 5.67	8 weeks	150 ml×3 (D)	TG, TC, LDL-c, HDL-c, BMI, BW
	C : CT			C:42.1 ± 17.42	C:10.61 ± 5.56
Jiang et al. (2018)	T : CT + LGZG + WM	40/40	47/33	T:70.1 ± 8.6	T:12.8 ± 7.5	8 weeks	1dose (D)	TG, TC, LDL-c, HDL-c
	C : CT + WM			C:68.8 ± 7.0	C:11.5 ± 6.7
Ke et al. (2012a)	T : CT + LGZG	38/32	36/34	T:42.5 ± 8.5	NA	6 months	150 ml×2 (D)	TG, TC, LDL-c, HDL-c, FPG, 2h-PG, FINS, HOMA-IR, BMI, BW,WC
	C : CT			C:42.1 ± 8.2
Ke et al. (2012b)	T : CT + LGZG	45/40	43/42	T:46.5 ± 7.3	T:3.5 ± 2.4	6 months	1dose (D)	TG, TC, LDL-c, HDL-c, FPG, 2h-PG, HbAlc, FINS, SBP, DBP, BMI, WC
	C : CT			C:45.7 ± 7.5	C:3.8 ± 2.6
Ke et al. (2012c)	T : CT + LGZG	35/30	30/35	T:45.76 ± 7.14	T:8.2	4 weeks	1dose (D)	TG, TC, LDL-c, HDL-c,
	C : CT			C:46.13 ± 8.73	C:9.4			SBP, DBP, BMI, BW
Ke et al. (2013a)	T : CT + LGZG	40/38	36/42	T:39.39 ± 14.05	NA	1 week	150 ml (D)	TG, TC, LDL-c, HDL-c,
	C : CT			C:38.43 ± 10.12				FPG, BMI, BW, WC
Ke et al. (2013b)	T : CT + LGZG	60/50	52/58	T:41.6 ± 15.34	T:5.8 ± 3.4	3 months	1dose (D)	TG, TC, LDL-c, HDL-c, BMI
	C : CT + WM			C:42.8 ± 14.52	C:5.7 ± 4.5
Qiu and Rong (2004)	T : LGZG	42/42	50/34	T:52.41 ± 21.40	NA	2 months	200 ml×2 (D)	TG, TC
	C : WM			C:54.23 ± 19.06
Shen et al. (2020)	T : CT + LGZG	30/30	37/23	T:46.80 ± 10.05	T:4.5	12 weeks	1dose (D)	TG, TC, FPG, FINS, HOMA-IR, BMI
	C : CT + WM			C:46.10 ± 10.16	C:4.0
Song and Li (2013)	T : LGZG	48/42	48/42	T:44.8 ± 4.2	T:4.24 ± 2.10	3 months	150 ml×2 (D)	TG, TC
	C : WM			C:42.2 ± 4.9	C:4.20 ± 2.12
Wang et al. (2017)	T : CT + LGZG + WM	52/46	53/45	T:64.33 ± 4.64	NA	12 weeks	150 ml×2 (D)	TG, TC, LDL-c, HDL-c
	C : CT + WM			C:65.6 ± 3.7				SBP, DBP, BMI
Wen (2020)	T : LGZG + WM	48/48	51/45	T:45.69 ± 8.58	T:4.97 ± 1.21	3 months	1dose (D)	TC, TG
	C : WM			C:46.99 ± 9.01	C:4.32 ± 1.28
Xia et al.(2017)	T : CT + LGZG + WM C : CT + WM	65/58	69/54	T:58.5 ± 11.7	T:3.5 ± 1.6	3 months	150 ml (D)	TG, TC, LDL-c, HDL-c, BMI
				C:57.4 ± 13.5	C:3.3 ± 1.4
Zhao (2020)	T : CT + LGZG + WM C : CT + WM	36/36	37/35	T:54.63 ± 4.14	NA	1 week	1 dose (D)	TG, TC, LDL-c, HDL-c
				C:53.14 ± 3.28
Zhou et al. (2015)	T : LGZG	60/60	56/64	T:47.5 ± 6.8	NA	3 months	1 dose (D)	TG, TC, LDL-c, HDL-c
	C : WM			C:46.5 ± 7.5

T: treatment group; C: control group; M: men; W: women; NA: not available; CT: conventional treatment by nondrug therapy including dietary intervention, fasting, exercise, health education, and others; LGZG : Ling Gui Zhu Gan formula; WM: western medicine; D : LGZG decoction; G : LGZG granules; TG: triglyceride; TC: total cholesterol; LDL-c: low-density lipoprotein ; HDL-c: high-density lipoprotein; FPG: fasting plasma glucose; 2h-PG:2 hours plasma glucose; HbAlc: glycated hemoglobin; FINS: fasting insulin; HOMA-IR: homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance; SBP: systolic pressure; DBP: diastolic pressure; BMI: body mass index; BW: body weight; WC: waist circumference.