Probiotics, vitamin D, and omega-3s improve diabetes status
- Probiotics reduced inflammation and glucose
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease where the body does not produce enough insulin to regulate blood sugar levels, and requires insulin injections. In this study, 56 people with type 1 diabetes, aged 6 to 18, got regular insulin injections with or without 10 billion colony-forming units of a probiotic combination.
After three months, fasting blood sugar levels in the probiotics group had decreased to 161.9 from 185.4 milligrams per deciliter of blood (mg/dL) while the placebo group registered 171.5 from 172.2 mg/dL. Long-term average blood sugar levels, or HbA1C, decreased to 8.5 from 9.3 percent for probiotics while remaining unchanged at 9.5 percent for placebo.
Treatment stopped after three months, but six months later, fasting and long-term average blood sugar levels remained near the lows seen at three months for the probiotics group.
Reference: Frontiers in Endocrinology; 2022, Article ID 754401
- Vitamin D and omega-3s
In the long-term VITamin D and OmegA-3 TriaL (VITAL) study, 25,875 participants took a placebo or 2,000 IU of vitamin D plus 460 mg of EPA and 380 mg of DHA per day. Doctors in this follow-up study were interested in the race of the 14 percent of participants who had type 2 diabetes, and their chances of being hospitalized for heart failure. The average follow-up period was 5.3 years.
Overall in those with type 2 diabetes, 3.6 percent who had taken vitamin D plus omega-3s had a first hospitalization for heart failure compared to 5.2 percent for placebo. For a second, or recurring, hospitalization for heart failure, there was a significant reduction for Black, but not for White, participants.
Reference: JACC: Heart Failure; 2022, Vol. 10, No. 4, 227-34
