Food-Based Ingredients to Modulate Blood Glucose - Advances in Food and Nutrition Research - page 209

Adding 1 or 3 g cinnamon to a rice pudding test meal did not result in
lowering the glycemic response in healthy subjects, but the insulin AUCwas
significantly reduced by the 3 g dose of cinnamon ( Hlebowicz et al., 2009 ).
This effect was probably due to an increase in glucose uptake by stimulation
of insulin receptor rather than a reduced gastric emptying rate earlier
hypothesized by the authors.
In a 2-week trial using 3 g cinnamon consumption by healthy patients,
their glucose and insulin response to Oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT)
was improved and the insulin sensitivity was also improved on the 14th
day ( Solomon & Blannin, 2009 ). However, a longer term intervention of
4 months in type 2 diabetic subjects who consumed 3 g of cinnamon extract
and a placebo capsule resulted in a significant difference in fasting plasma glu-
cose pre- and postintervention in both the groups. Although the effect cin-
namon extract was 7% more than the placebo, the levels of HbA1c did not
show any difference between the groups attributing the response to a pla-
cebo effect ( Mang et al., 2006 ) .
Fenugreek seeds have been reported to reduce fasting blood sugar in type
2 diabetic patients. There was a 25% reduction in fasting blood sugar when
fenugreek powder (10 g/day) was mixed with hot water and no significant
effect was noticed when consumed with yogurt. This may have been due to
the solubility effect of the active galactomannan polysaccharide in fenugreek
( Kassaian, Azadbakht, Forghani, &Amini, 2009 ) . Additional benefits of lipid
profile were also obtained by using this herbal supplement. Losso et al.
(2009) have reported the development of a bread product with fenugreek
as a method of administering to type 2 diabetic subjects. The product was
acceptable and compared to the commercial bread in sensory properties
and resulted in a significant reduction in insulin response.
In a study in Japan, the green tea consumption was shown to reduce the
risk of diabetes by 33% with no effect shown by oolong or black teas ( Iso,
Date, Wakai, Fukui, & Tamakoshi, 2006 ) . In another US-based study that
looked at the effect of flavonoid-rich foods on development of type 2 diabetes,
the researchers reported a beneficial effect of tea consumption equivalent to
more than four cups a day in only women compared to those women who
did not drink tea ( Song, Manson, Buring, Sesso, & Liu, 2005 ). Irrespective
of these results, two large prospective cohort studies, the Health Professionals
study, and the Nurse's Health Study did not find any effect of tea on the devel-
opment of type 2 diabetes. A 30-day intervention with oolong tea in Taiwan
resulted in a reduction in fasting plasma glucose and fructosamine in type 2