Natural treatments for diabetes complications
Natural treatments for diabetes complications encompass a range of dietary and herbal supplements aimed at alleviating issues related to high blood sugar and reducing damage to various organs. Diabetes can lead to serious complications like nerve damage, kidney problems, and cardiovascular issues. While conventional medical care is critical, certain natural treatments may complement standard therapies, particularly for conditions such as diabetic peripheral neuropathy and cardiac autonomic neuropathy.
Promising natural supplements include acetyl-L-carnitine, which has shown benefits in nerve regeneration and pain reduction; lipoic acid, predominantly effective when administered intravenously; and gamma-linolenic acid, found in certain oils that may mitigate nerve damage. Other proposed treatments, like vitamin E and certain omega-3 fatty acids, have shown mixed results in studies, with some evidence suggesting benefits for nerve health and cardiovascular conditions associated with diabetes.
In addition to these, lifestyle factors like a balanced diet, regular exercise, and weight management are emphasized as key components in managing diabetes and its complications. While some herbal remedies and supplements, such as cinnamon, have been studied for their potential effects on blood sugar levels, outcomes can vary, and individuals are encouraged to approach natural treatments with caution.
Natural treatments for diabetes complications
- PRINCIPAL PROPOSED NATURAL TREATMENTS
- OTHER PROPOSED NATURAL TREATMENTS
DEFINITION: Treatment of the condition that causes toxic blood sugar levels and organ and tissue damage.
Introduction
Diabetes is an illness that damages many organs in the body, including the heart and blood vessels, nerves, kidneys, and eyes. Most of this damage is believed to be caused by the toxic effects of abnormally high blood sugar, although other factors may play a role as well. Tight control of blood sugar greatly reduces all complications of diabetes. Some of the natural treatments described below may also help.
Principal Proposed Natural Treatments
Several dietary and herbal supplements may help prevent or treat some of the common complications of diabetes. However, because diabetes is a dangerous disease, alternative treatment should not be attempted as a substitute for conventional medical care.
Natural treatments are helpful in general for improving cholesterol and triglyceride profiles and may be useful to people with diabetes. Contrary to some early concerns, both fish oil and niacintreatments used for improving triglyceride and cholesterol levels, respectivelyappear to be safe for people with diabetes.
High levels of blood sugar can damage the nerves leading to the extremities, causing pain and numbness. This condition is called diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Nerve damage may also develop in the heart, a condition named cardiac autonomic neuropathy. Following is a discussion of three natural supplements–acetyl-L-carnitine, lipoic acid, and gamma-linolenic acid–that have shown promise for the treatment of diabetic nerve damage.
Acetyl-L-carnitine. The supplement acetyl-L-carnitine (ALC) has shown promise for diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Two fifty-two-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies involving 1,257 people with diabetic peripheral neuropathy evaluated the potential benefits of ALC taken at 500 milligrams (mg) or 1,000 mg daily. The results showed that the use of ALC, especially at the higher dose, improved sensory perception and decreased pain levels. In addition, the supplement appeared to promote nerve fiber regeneration. ALC has also shown some promise for cardiac autonomic neuropathy.
Lipoic acid. Lipoic acid is widely advocated for the treatment of diabetic neuropathy. However, while there is meaningful evidence fo rthe benefits of intravenous lipoic acid, there is only minimal evidence to indicate that oral lipoic acid can help.
A double-blind, placebo-controlled study that enrolled 503 people with diabetic peripheral neuropathy found that intravenous lipoic acid helped reduce symptoms in a three-week period. However, when researchers substituted oral lipoic acid for intravenous lipoic acid, benefits ceased.
Benefits were seen with oral lipoic acid in a study published in 2006. In this double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 181 people with diabetic peripheral neuropathy were given either a placebo or one of three daily doses of lipoic acid600 mg, 1,200 mg, or 1,800 mg. During the five-week study period, benefits were seen in all three lipoic acid groups compared with the placebo group. However, while this outcome may sound promising, one feature of the results tends to reduce the faith one can put in themthe absence of a dose-related effect. Ordinarily, when a treatment is effective, higher doses produce relatively better results. When such a spectrum of outcomes is not observed, one wonders if something went wrong in the study.
Other than this one study, the positive evidence for oral lipoic acid in diabetic peripheral neuropathy is limited to open studies of minimal to no validity and to double-blind trials too small to be relied upon.
Lipoic acid has also been advocated for cardiac autonomic neuropathy, and one study did find benefits: The DEKAN (Deutsche Kardiale Autonome Neuropathie) study followed seventy-three people with cardiac autonomic neuropathy for four months. Treatment with 800 mg of oral lipoic acid daily showed significant improvement compared with placebo and no important side effects. Preliminary evidence hints that lipoic acid may be more effective for neuropathy if it is combined with gamma-linolenic acid.
Gamma-linolenic acid.Gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) is an essential fatty acid in the omega-6 category. The most common sources of GLA are evening primrose oil, borage oil, and black currant oil.
Many studies in animals have shown that evening primrose oil can protect nerves from diabetes-induced injury. Human trials have also found benefits. A double-blind study followed 111 people with diabetes for one year. The results showed an improvement in subjective symptoms of peripheral neuropathy, such as pain and numbness, and objective signs of nerve injury. People with good blood sugar control improved the most. A much smaller double-blind study also reported positive results.
Other Proposed Natural Treatments
A four-month, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial found that vitamin E at a dose of 600 mg daily might improve symptoms of cardiac autonomic neuropathy. Vitamin E and selenium have also shown promise for diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Intriguing evidence from a small study suggests that vitamin E may also help protect people with diabetes from developing damage to their eyes and kidneys. However, a large, long-term study failed to find vitamin E effective for preventing kidney damage. Vitamin E also did not help prevent coronary artery disease. In a review of thirteen randomized trials, researchers found inadequate evidence for the effectiveness of B vitamins for peripheral neuropathiesdiabetic or otherwise.
The supplement inositol has been tried as a treatment for diabetic neuropathy, but the results have been mixed. In preliminary studies, fish oil has shown some promise for diabetic neuropathy, but further research and human trials are needed.
Diabetes can cause swelling of the ankles and feet by damaging small blood vessels, called microangiopathy. A preliminary, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial suggests that oxerutins might be helpful for this condition.
Weak evidence suggests that the herb bilberry may help prevent eye damagecataracts and retinopathycaused by diabetes. Pycnogenol, a source of oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPCs), has also shown promise for diabetic retinopathy.
It has been suggested that vitamin C may also help prevent cataracts in diabetes based on its relationship to sorbitol. Sorbitol, a sugar-like substance that tends to accumulate in the cells of people with diabetes, may play a role in the development of diabetic cataracts. Vitamin C appears to help reduce sorbitol buildup, but the evidence that vitamin C provides significant benefits by this route is indirect and far from conclusive. Another study suggests that vitamin C might be helpful in reducing blood pressure in people with diabetes. Topical application of the herb Tinospora cordifolia and honey have shown some promise for speeding the healing of diabetic foot ulcers.
Magnetic insoles, a form of magnet therapy, have shown some promise for the treatment of diabetic peripheral neuropathy. A four-month, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study of nineteen people with peripheral neuropathy found a significant reduction in symptoms in those using the insoles compared with those using placebo insoles. This study enrolled people with peripheral neuropathy of various causes; however, reduction in the symptoms of burning, numbness, and tingling was especially marked in those cases of neuropathy associated with diabetes.
Another type of magnetic therapy, involving low-frequency, repetitive magnetic pulses generated by an electric current, was no more effective than a placebo at relieving painful peripheral neuropathy among sixty-one people who had long-term diabetes. In another study, however, high-frequency magnetic fields applied repetitively to the brain were more effective than placebo in reducing pain and improving quality of life among twenty-eight subjects with peripheral neuropathy.
One small, double-blind, placebo-controlled study suggests that regular use of multivitamin-multimineral supplements may reduce the incidence of infectious illness in people with diabetes. Another study failed to find that general nutritional supplementation accelerated the healing of diabetic foot ulcers.
A commonly available substance, cinnamon, has been cited as beneficial in lowering and managing blood sugar and complications of diabetes because it imitates the effects of insulin. However, scientific testing for its efficacy as a diabetes treatment has found mixed results. Some research indicates cinnamon is effective in doses between 1 and 6 grams, but larger quantities may cause gastrointestinal or allergic reactions. One study of eighty people found that 1.5 grams of cinnamon daily reduced fasting glucose levels over twelve weeks. It also improved participant’s sensitivity to insulin. Additionally, some research indicates using a cinnamon supplement may lower the risk of stroke and heart disease. A meta-analysis of nine studies involving over 600 participants with diabetes found cinnamon significantly improved systolic and diastolic blood pressure if taken at a dose of over two grams per day.
Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease became so common among patients with diabetes in the early twenty-first century that some experts referred to it as type 3 diabetes. Though this link is not entirely understood, it is clear that the brain loses its ability to break down glucose when diabetes is uncontrolledparticularly in patients with type 2 diabetes. Some herbs and foods, like cinnamon, folate, vitamins D, B6, and B12, have been suggested to help prevent this. However, adopting a healthy diet and active lifestyle seems to be the best prevention of this comorbidity.
Some have suggested ginseng as a natural supplement, and certain studies do attest to its effectiveness. Nonetheless, ginseng can have similar effects to excessive caffeine and can induce anxiety, sleeplessness, and increases in blood pressure. Fiber-rich foods are believed to be effective against diabetes. These include certain breakfast cereals, as well as vegetables. Again, a more holistic approach is recommended that involves weight management, exercise, a healthy diet, sleep, hydration, and prescribed medications.
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