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Improving insulin resistance with traditional Chinese medicine in type 2 diabetic patients

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Abstract

Some clinical studies and animal researches have evaluated the efficacy of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and compared its effects with placebo or other antidiabetic drugs. TCM involves three particular plants, as an antidiabetic drug. Our present research planned to evaluate the efficacy of TCM on insulin sensitivity and other related metabolic factors in type 2 diabetic patients. There were 43 newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic patients enrolled in this study, who did not use any antidiabetic drugs before. They were randomly assigned into TCM and placebo groups, administrated with TCM and placebo, respectively. Glucose disposal rate, fasting plasma glucose, postprandial plasma glucose, glycated hemoglobin, and other metabolic components were assessed at baseline and end point. Glucose disposal rate increased from 5.12 ± 2.20 to 6.37 ± 3.51 mg kg−1 min−1 in the TCM group, ANCOVA analysis showed that glucose disposal rate in the TCM group was significantly improved as compared to that in the placebo group (P < 0.05). Other metabolic related components such as fasting plasma glucose, postprandial plasma glucose, glycated hemoglobin, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, body mass index, retinol binding protein 4 were improved in TCM group, but no statistical differences was detected between the two groups. No severe side effect was found in TCM group. TCM can ameliorate insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes and it is safe and effective in newly diagnosed diabetic patients.

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Abbreviations

T2D:

Type 2 diabetes

TCM:

Traditional Chinese medicine

FPG:

Fasting plasma glucose

PPG:

Postprandial plasma glucose

HbA1c:

Glycated hemoglobin

INS0’:

Fasting plasma insulin

INS120’:

Postprandial plasma insulin

TG:

Triglyceride

TC:

Total cholesterol

HDL-c:

High-density lipoprotein-cholesterol

LDL-c:

Low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol

HPLC:

High performance liquid chromatography

RBP4:

Retinol binding protein 4

HsCRP:

C-reactive protein

IL-6:

Interleukin-6

GDR:

Glucose disposal rate

BMI:

Body mass index

SBP:

Systolic blood pressure

DBP:

Diastolic blood pressure

AMPK:

AMP-activated protein kinase

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Acknowledgments

We are indebted to all the patients who participated in this study. This study is supported by the grant from the 973 Project (No. 2006 CB 503904) in China, Shanghai Committee for Science and Technology (No. 04DZ19502), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30700383, No. 30725037) and Shanghai Education Commission (No. Y0204, No. E03007).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Clinical Center for Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases and Division of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases of E-Institutes of Shanghai Universities, Rui-Jin Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, 197 RuiJin 2nd Road, Shanghai, 200025, People’s Republic of China

    Menglei Chao, Yifei Zhang, Yuhong Chen, Guang Ning & Weiqing Wang

  2. Department of Endocrinology, Chang-Hai Hospital affiliated to the Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, 200433, People’s Republic of China

    Dajin Zou, Miao Wang & Hong Wu

  3. Shanghai Clinical Center for Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases, Shanghai Institute of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Ruijin Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, 197 RuiJin 2nd Road, Shanghai, 200025, People’s Republic of China

    Weiqing Wang

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  1. Menglei Chao
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  2. Dajin Zou
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  3. Yifei Zhang
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  4. Yuhong Chen
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  5. Miao Wang
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  6. Hong Wu
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  7. Guang Ning
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  8. Weiqing Wang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Weiqing Wang.

Additional information

Menglei Chao and Dajin Zou contributed equally to this work.

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Chao, M., Zou, D., Zhang, Y. et al. Improving insulin resistance with traditional Chinese medicine in type 2 diabetic patients. Endocr 36, 268–274 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12020-009-9222-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12020-009-9222-y

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