Background: Snehapana (internal oleation/therapeutic intake of medicated unctuous substance) constitutes a unique treatment entity in the Ayurveda medical system. It comprises intake of any form of Sneha (lipid medium/fat) orally. Still, there are prevailing concerns about whether administration of escalating doses of medicated lipids leads to dyslipidemia and whether dyslipidemic patients can safely undergo Snehapana . Hence, the present systematic review is planned to systematically evaluate the available evidence on the therapeutic efficacy and safety of Snehapana on lipid profile. The objective of the study is to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of published clinical data and grey literature in view of evaluating the effect of medicated Snehapana on lipid profile by keeping the non-medicated Snehapana group as a comparator in the participants undergoing Snehapana. Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCT), quasi-randomized controlled trials, controlled clinical trial (CCT), comparative clinical trial, and multi-arm clinical trials will be included in the study. The study participants include those who have undergone medicated Snehapana in any module. Data from the electronic databases such as PubMed, Cochrane CENTRAL, AYUSH Research Portal, DHARA, Shodhganga, Ayurvedic Research Database, Institute for Teaching and Research in Ayurveda, Gujarat Ayurveda University, Jamnagar, and other relevant journals will be searched. Two investigators will independently screen all the potentially eligible articles identified by a primary comprehensive search. Data from the selected studies will be extracted separately by two review authors for data analysis. The risk of bias will be evaluated using appropriate available tools. Meta-analysis will be done if studies are found eligible. If a sufficient number of studies are not available and if heterogeneity is detected, systematic qualitative synthesis shall include case series, case reports, and single-case study designs. Discussion: The proposed review is focused on addressing the concerns related to the effect of snehapana on lipid status. In addition, the study shall identify the future areas of research related to the safety of Snehapana , considering the lacunas of the existing literature. The study is prospectively registered with PROSPERO with registration number CRD42022376754.
PP et al. (Sun,) studied this question.