What Are The Best Supplements for Type 2 Diabetes?

Type 2 Diabetes is the most common form of diabetes that people develop. Acoording to the CDC, 1.4 million new cases of diabetes are diagnosed in the United States every year, with numbers steadily rising.

The good news, is that Type 2 diabetes is reversible. Through diet changes and weight loss, you may be able to reach and hold normal blood sugar levels without medication. This doesn’t mean you’re completely cured. Type 2 diabetes is an ongoing disease.

As a result, some people are looking for natural ways to effectively manage their blood sugar levels, with herbal and complementary becoming popular. While you shouldn’t use supplements to replace your diabetes medication, research on some of them does suggest that they can help with type 2 diabetes management.

In this article I will discuss the best natural supplements for diabetes management and factors to consider when shopping for a supplement.

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Best Supplements for Diabetes

There are several different natural ways to manage diabetes mellitus. They operate using different mechanisms of action to help manage symptoms and/or treat the root cause of diabetes.

It is even possible that there is a diabetes cure. If you’re unsure of what the symptoms of diabetes are, you must familiarize yourself with diabetes warning signs.

Bitter Melon

Momordica charantia, commonly known as bitter melon, is one such remedy.

Bitter melon works by leading to improvements in symptoms and values that are actually quite similar to the improvements seen when using conventional diabetes medication glibenclamide.

Bitter melon helps to decrease fasting blood glucose, HbA1c, and two-hour postprandial blood glucose. It also helps to reduce the symptom of polyuria, which is increased urinary frequency.

Bitter melon also reduces polydipsia (constant thirst), polyphagia (constant hunger), nocturia (the need to urinate during the night), and weight loss, which is a common concern among those with type 2 diabetes.

Berberine

Berberine is an ammonium salt that can help with diabetes and managing diabetes complications. You can find it in the roots, rhizome, stem, and bark of certain plants. 

Berberine works against oxidative stress and inflammation, which are two things that help in type 2 diabetes. In Ben’s Glucose Control, berberine controls blood sugar levels by inhibiting the absorption of sugar in the intestine and enhancing insulin production.

Banaba

Banaba is a plant that can help to reduce blood glucose levels and improve insulin sensitivity. It enhances the ability of cells to absorb glucose and helps normalize blood sugar and insulin levels. A recent review summarized the up to date research on banaba. It also looked at the constituents of banaba and their relation to blood sugar. They found that banaba’s glucose-lowering properties can be attributed to corosolic acid and ellagitannins.

L-Leucine

L-Leucine is an amino acid that can regulate several cellular processes such as protein synthesis, tissue regeneration, and metabolism.

Supplementation of L-Leucine can significantly reduce HbA1c levels and improve blood sugar control and insulin sensitivity.

Alpha-lipoic acid

Alpha-lipoic acid is another natural remedy you can use to help in the management of diabetes.

It can significantly improve pain, numbness, peripheral nerve conductance, sensory symptoms, decreased nerve fiber degeneration, and improved neuropathy and endoneurial function. But alpha lipoic acid doesn’t just help with nerve-related symptoms.

It can also reduce oxidative stress markers and inhibit copper and iron-mediated oxidative damage. Alpha-lipoic acid is also effective at lowering high blood sugar levels.

Cinnamon

Cinnamon isn’t just a tasty spice. It’s also medicinal, particularly in the management of diabetes! In patients with HbA1c higher than 7.0, it can help to significantly lower fasting blood glucose levels.

It is also helpful in managing the cholesterol levels of those with diabetes. Cinnamon supplements can also reduce total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (“bad” cholesterol), and triglycerides. They also helps to increase high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (“good” cholesterol).

Find Out More information on the benefits of cinnamon here.

Chromium

Chromium is a micromineral often used in the management of diabetes. It works by helping to lower fasting blood glucose levels.

A four-month study, published in 2015, analyzed the effect of chromium on 71 patients with poorly controlled Type 2 diabetes. The patients were administered with 600 mcg of chromium daily. The results showed a significant improvement in fasting and postprandial (after-meal) glucose levels, along with an improvement in A1C levels.

A further meta-analysis, published in 2017, looked at 28 studies. Overall, it concluded that chromium supplementation reduced fasting glucose and A1C levels. It also improved triglycerides and HDL (“good”) cholesterol.

Gymnema Sylvestre

Gymnema Sylvestre is a herb that helps with the regeneration and repair of the beta cells of the pancreas.

These are the cells that produce insulin in a healthy person. Beta cells may have difficulty with this in someone with insulin resistance or insulin sensitivity.

When beta cells in someone with diabetes are repaired, this raises serum insulin levels, which is usually difficult to do in a patient with diabetes.

Gymnema Sylvestre also reduces blood glucose. It is also good at helping patients get to the point where they can decrease the dose of their conventional diabetes medications.

Which diabetes supplements can best help you manage the day-to-day side effects of diabetes?

Some of the most common day-to-day side effects of diabetes include fatigue, slow-healing cuts and bruises, and diabetic neuropathy, which is tingling, pain, and numbness in the hands and/or feet.

• Vitamin B12: To help manage diabetic neuropathy, you may want to consider taking a vitamin B12 supplement. Whether taken as part of a vitamin B complex, or as pure methylcobalamin, vitamin b12 has been shown to have beneficial effects on somatic symptoms of diabetic neuropathy. These include pain and numbness or tingling.
  

• Vitamin C: For skin wounds that are slow to heal, vitamin C is one of the dietary supplements you may want to consider. Vitamin C is actually an important cofactor in the synthesis of collagen. It is also a primary antioxidant. The body uses a lot of vitamin C after a wound to the skin. When vitamin C supplementation is used in wound healing, there is a lower expression of pro-inflammatory mediators, but higher expression of wound healing mediators. Vitamin C stimulates the expression of self-renewal genes. It also promotes the proliferation of fibroblasts. Overall, vitamin C leads to earlier resolution of inflammation and tissue remodeling.
  

• Melatonin: If fatigue is a diabetes side effect that troubles you, you may want to consider supplementing with melatonin. Research has found that melatonin supplementation may improve fatigue. It is thought that this is because melatonin improves antioxidant activities, high cholesterol levels, and inflammatory cytokines by upregulating the creation of mitochondria (which produce energy) in the bodies of those with type 2 diabetes.

What supplements should you consider if you are prediabetic?

If you have prediabetes, you should consider the following dietary supplements: prebiotics, probiotics, potassium, vitamin D, zinc, betaine, magnesium, alpha-lipoic acid, and aloe vera.

These help by preventing the progression into diabetes and its complications, including cardiovascular disease, diabetic neuropathy, and involvement of the kidneys.

Research has shown that plant protein can help to improve insulin sensitivity, insulin resistance, and reduce the secretion of certain unhealthy fatty acids.

Probiotics and prebiotics can help decrease risk factors of metabolic syndrome by modifying the intestinal microbiome.

They do this by reducing the absorption of certain nutrients and helping with the metabolic handling of nutrient-rich foods. This helps to reduce overall cardiometabolic risk. Red yeast rice is an alternative to a statin drug, which helps by managing cholesterol levels.

Berberine is a compound that helps by regulating blood sugar levels. Curcumin is a nutrient that helps by reducing inflammation.

A vitamin D supplement is useful as well since it helps to scavenge free radicals and fight against inflammation.

For more information on prediabetes, click here.

Safety and effectiveness of using diabetes supplements

Good supplements can help to promote healthy blood sugar levels, postprandial blood glucose, and HbA1c. They can also help to lower total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides. They can even increase high-density lipoprotein levels, which is not an easy feat. Some dietary supplements can also help with insulin resistance.

The most commonly used medication for diabetes mellitus is metformin. Metformin is used in several diabetes mellitus types, including gestational diabetes. There are a couple of diabetes supplements that can interact with metformin. One of these is cinnamon bark.

Cinnamon increases the effects of metformin through added drug effects.

A fairly significant interaction is possible, so you will want to be sure your doctor closely monitors you if you are taking both metformin and cinnamon bark.

Keep an eye on your blood sugar levels since you are at increased risk of hypoglycemia while on both of these at once.

Chromium is a helpful supplement in diabetes treatment, but there is a risk of a minor interaction with metformin. This happens due to added drug effects, which lead to increased effects of metformin specifically.

Although there are some supplement-medication interactions to look out for, several supplements are safe to take with metformin (alpha-lipoic acid, for example).

Just be sure to check with your health care provider to see what is and is not safe for you to take.

How can you be sure you are taking supplements to treat diabetes safely?

High-quality, natural ingredients

The best supplements for managing diabetes have a broad spectrum of minerals and nutrients. You want to make sure there is a clinically significant dose of the key ingredients.

You also want to put high-quality, natural ingredients into your body. After all, that is likely one reason you turned to a supplement, rather than a pharmaceutical drug, in the first place.

But guess what? Even in its ideal dose, an ingredient is useless if it isn’t in the correct form! You want a highly bioavailable form of each supplement ingredient. This way, your body will absorb what you are putting into it.

Not only are you getting more benefits from a highly bioavailable product, but you are getting more bang for your buck. You will need less of the product to have more of a therapeutic effect.

When looking for diabetes management supplements, make sure you get a product that contains scientifically proven ingredients that have clear benefits specifically for diabetes.

Transparency

Transparency is important. You want to know what you are getting when you spend your hard-earned money on a diabetes management supplement.

This is why you want to get your product from a company that provides transparent information about their laboratory testing.

You also want a supplement from a company that complies with government groups, such as the Food and Drug Administration (the FDA).

You want to see that they clearly list their ingredients. As much as you want transparency in laboratory testing, it is equally important to have transparency in labeling.

Customer Experience

Have a look at customer ratings. You want to make sure you get a product that is highly rated. It is always nice to see when a company uses third-party software to make sure that reviews only come from actual customers.

You also want to obtain a diabetes management supplement from a company that provides excellent customer service.

Compliance

Compliance, compliance, compliance. This is how a supplement company ensures quality. You will want to keep an eye out for supplements manufactured within the United States. If the company uses Food and Drug Administration-audited facilities for their manufacture, then that is even better.

Why Choose Ben’s Natural Health Supplements?

At Ben’s Natural Health, our motto is to combine holistic healing with modern science.

Ben’s Natural Health is the world’s first high-quality, all-natural, scientifically proven clinical supplement company. Our supplements are effective, natural and 100% side effect free.

At Ben’s Natural Health, we have four rules for all our supplements:

• We only use the highest quality ingredients
• We only use them if they have been proven to work in independent, peer-reviewed double-blind studies
• With all our supplements, we find a way to get every ingredient into a single bottle
• We always formulate them in clinically significant doses of the most bioavailable form

We pride ourselves on offering excellent customer service. We offer a free health consultation where you can ask questions and receive tailored advice from our expert health consultants.