Citrus fruits and inflammaging: a systematic review

Inflammaging is a low-grade, chronic, asymptomatic, controlled and systemic pro-inflammatory status that appears during the aging process and is linked to many age-related diseases. Growing evidence indicates that Mediterranean diet is a reliable instrument to counteract inflammaging, due to its high content of flavonoids, whose main source are Citrus fruits. Our objective was to summarize and critically discuss the rich clinical evidence on the properties of Citrus fruits and their derivatives focusing on a series of age-related diseases and their potential use to maintain health in aging populations. A systematic review of articles using MEDLINE, Web of Sciences and Scopus was performed independently by two reviewers. Search terms included keywords related to Citrus fruits or their derivatives and inflammation. No language restriction was applied. The last search was performed on November 15th, 2018. The study selection and systematic review were carried out in accordance with the PRISMA statement. Prior to the beginning of the review, Authors defined a checklist for inclusion criteria. Three reviewers independently performed the extraction of articles. Eighty-five papers met our inclusion criteria and were eligible for inclusion in the final review. Citrus fruits seem to possess capabilities in counteracting inflammation-based age-related diseases, thus representing a possible weapon to fight inflammaging. This review may be used as a scientific basis for further studies on the role of Citrus fruits consumption and inflammaging.