Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. Study shows that 1,000 mg/day of resveratrol supplementation for 45 days led to a 19.9% decrease in fasting blood glucose.
The International Diabetes Federation states that diabetes affects around 371 million people worldwide, resulting in 4.8 million deaths each year (1), with 77.6% of diabetic patients expected in developing countries by the year 2030 (2,3).
In the United States, 1 in 12 citizens (25.8 million people) have diabetes, with 90% of those being type 2 diabetics (4). Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, non-traumatic lower-limb amputations, and new cases of blindness among adults in the United States, as well as a major cause of heart disease and stroke. All of this leads to diabetes being the seventh leading cause of death in the United States (4) at a cost of $174 billion per year to our healthcare system (5).
Now new research (6) suggests that resveratrol, an antioxidant known to help heart health (7), inflammation (8), and digestive health (9) may now help diabetics control their blood sugar.
The study involved 64 subjects (32 men, 32 women) aged 44 to 58 with type 2 diabetes. They received either 1,000 milligrams per day of resveratrol (500 mg twice daily) or placebo for 45 days. Before and after the study, patients were weighed, had their blood pressure taken, and provided blood samples to assess blood sugar control and cholesterol levels. All patients continued their diabetes medications.
After 45 days, those in the resveratrol group experienced numerous significant improvements, including:
•A 5.9% decrease in systolic blood pressure (the top number = 129.03 to 121.45 mmHg) compared to a 1% increase in the control group (129.31 to 130.68 mmHg, p < 0.0001)
•A 19.9% decrease in fasting blood glucose (175.74 to 140.80 milligrams/deciliter) compared to a 6.5% increase in the control group (151.24 to 161.13 mg/dL, p < 0.0001)
•A 11.7% decrease in a protein marker of diabetes called hemoglobin A1c (8.60 to 7.60) compared to a 2.4% increase in the control group (8.30 to 8.50, p < 0.0001)
•A 47.4% decrease in insulin levels (10.20 to 5.37 micro-International Units) compared to a 3% decrease in the control group (9.04 to 8.77 micro-IU, p < 0.0001)
•A 58.6% decrease in a measure of insulin resistance called HOMA-IR (4.61 to 1.91) compared to a 7.2% increase in the control group (3.20 to 3.43, p < 0.0001)
•A 11.5% increase in HDL cholesterol levels (41.40 to 46.15 mg/dL) compared to a 4.9% decrease in the control group (41.73 to 39.69 mg/dL, p < 0.001)
There was no difference in liver and kidney function between the two groups.
For the researchers, “1,000 mg/day of resveratrol supplementation for 45 days had no adverse effects in type 2 diabetic patients and not only complemented standard anti-diabetic medication but also provided added protection (over standard anti-diabetic therapy).”
Source: Movahed, Ali, et al. “Antihyperglycemic effects of short term resveratrol supplementation in type 2 diabetic patients.” Evidence-Based complementary and alternative medicine 2013 (2013).
© 2013 Ali Movahed et al. Creative Commons Attribution License
Click here to read the full text study.
Posted April 28, 2014.
Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Hauppauge, NY. You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site at www.PitchingDoc.com.
References:
1.International Diabetes Federation, IDF Diabetes Atlas Update, International Diabetes Federation, Brussels, Belgium, 2012
2.A. Hussain, S. Vaaler, M. A. Sayeed, H. Mahtab, S. M. K. Ali, and A. K. A. Khan, “Type 2 diabetes and impaired fasting blood glucose in rural Bangladesh: a population-based study,” European Journal of Public Health, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 291–296, 2007.
3.J. S. Freeman, “The increasing epidemiology of diabetes and reviewof current treatment algorithms,” Journal of theAmerican Osteopathic Association, vol. 110, no. 7, pp. eS2–eS6, 2010
4.“2011 National Diabetes Fact Sheet” posted on the CDC website
5.“Estimated Diabetes Cost In the United States, 2007” posted on the CDC website
6.Movahed A. Antihyperglycemic Effects of Short Term Resveratrol Supplementation in Type 2 Diabetic Patients. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2013;2013:851267. doi:10.1155/2013/851267. Epub 2013 Sep 1
7.Wong RHX. Acute resveratrol supplementation improves flow-mediated dilatation in overweight/obese individuals with mildly elevated blood pressure. Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Diseases 2010. Published online ahead of print, doi: 10.1016/j.numecd.2010.03.003
8.6. Ghanim H. An Antiinflammatory and Reactive Oxygen Species Suppressive Effects of an Extract of Polygonum Cuspidatum Containing Resveratrol. J Cin Endo Metab 2010. First published ahead of print June 9, 2010 as doi:10.1210/jc.2010-0482
9.Sanchez-Fidalgo S. Dietary supplementation of resveratrol attenuates chronic colonic inflammation in mice. European Journal of Pharmacology 633 (2010) 78 –84
