Short-Term Dietary Caffeine Intake for Alleviating Symptoms of Burning Mouth Syndrome: A Randomised Controlled Comparison With Alpha-Lipoic Acid.

Abstract

Objective: This study investigates whether daily supplementation of 120-150 mg of caffeine can relieve symptoms of Burning Mouth Syndrome (BMS) compared to alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) and a control group.

Methods: In this randomised controlled trial, 118 BMS patients were divided into three groups: caffeine, ALA, and control. The caffeine group received 120-150 mg of caffeine daily, the ALA group received 200 mg of ALA three times daily, and the control group received no interventions. Symptom relief was assessed over 2 weeks using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), with subgroup analyses based on symptom subtypes, disease duration, symptom sites, and characteristics.

Results: The VAS of BMS patients in the caffeine and ALA groups exhibited significant reductions (p < 0.0005). The caffeine group exhibited a 65.1% symptom relief rate compared to 46.5% in the ALA group and 12.5% in the control group. Significant differences in symptom relief were noted between the caffeine and control groups (p < 0.0005) and between the ALA and control groups (p = 0.0032). No significant difference was observed between the caffeine and ALA groups (p = 0.084). Type I BMS patients in the caffeine group showed greater symptom relief than those in the ALA group (p = 0.026).

Conclusions: Both caffeine and ALA effectively treated BMS, with caffeine showing higher efficacy in Type I patients. Treatments were well-tolerated with minimal adverse effects, suggesting caffeine and ALA as promising treatments for BMS, warranting further research on their long-term effects and mechanisms of action. [The study was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (Identification No. NCT06195137).].