Guarana supplementation does not reduce cancer-related fatigue

Objectives:
Does guarana supplementation reduce cancer-related fatigue?

Study design:
This review article included 7 RCTs with a total of 427 cancer patients.
Some studies presented a low risk of bias for all the categories.
Meta-analysis was conducted for 3 studies about breast cancer, which presented sufficient data.

The instruments used to analyze fatigue were the Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI), the Chalder Fatigue Scale, the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue (FACIT-FATIGUE) and the Piper Scale.

Results and conclusions:
The investigators found guarana supplementation did not reduce cancer-related fatigue compared with placebo groups [mean = -0.02, 95% CI = -1.54 to 1.50, p = 0.98] and the quality of evidence according to GRADE was very low.

The investigators concluded that guarana supplementation did not reduce cancer-related fatigue. However, further studies with better methodological quality are needed.

Original title:
The use of guarana (Paullinia cupana) as a dietary supplement for fatigue in cancer patients: a systematic review with a meta-analysis by de Araujo DP, Pereira PTVM, […], Garcia JBS.

Link:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34146166/

Additional information of El Mondo:
Find more information/studies on fruit and cancer right here.