Alternative and Natural Treatments for Diabetes

One of the questions I'm asked most frequently by people who email me is "Aren't there any natural treatments I can use to normalize my diabetes?"

By "natural" people mean the herbs and supplements that are sold with the marketing message that the substances they contain are safer and more effective than pharmaceutical drugs.

The short answer is NO.

Very few supplements sold to help people with diabetes do anything at all but help you lose weight in your wallet. Many of them are just vitamin and mineral blends. You can read in more depth how flimsy is the data suggesting that any minerals really help with diabetes on my web page Bad and Questionable Supplements.

Many of the other supplements sold specifically for diabetes contain cinnamon, which has also been discredited as a blood sugar treatment now that we have some research that was not performed by a team of researchers headed by someone with a financial interest in cinnamon.

Occasionally you will hear on a forum or discussion group about a supplement that someone with diabetes reports has a dramatic effect on their blood sugar. Unfortunately, all too often the supplement works because it is chemically very similar to a pharmaceutical and that means--and this is extremely important--it has the same side effects as the pharmaceutical.

For example, some Chinese herbs used for controlling blood sugar turn out to be chemically very similar to sulfonylurea drugs. Bitter melon and ginseng fall into this category.

Application of modified in vitro screening procedure for identifying herbals possessing sulfonylurea-like activity. Y. Rotshteyn and S. W. Zito.

No one questions that sulfonylurea drugs work to lower blood sugar. The big problem with them, particularly the ones more like the herbs in function, is that the same chemical action that causes beta cells to pump out insulin also stimulates heart muscle in a way that increases heart attack. There is some concern that the continual stimulation of the beta cell by sulfonylureas may cause them to die over time. If your herb is stimulating insulin secretion by using the pathway sulfonylureas use, it is subject to these identical concerns.

Red rice yeast lowers cholesterol the same way as statins, because it contains natural statins, which mean when you take them you have the same risk of muscle damage and cognitive decline.

This is troubling enough, but then you run into the single biggest problem with herbs and supplements: Because they are completely unregulated, you have no idea what might be in the capsule you paid for.

When supplements are taken to the lab and analyzed they often turn out not to contain what they are supposed to contain. Even worse, they may contain other things that you didn't bargain for, be they pesticide residues or actual pharmaceutical drugs added to make them "effective."

You can read a description of what one company was selling instead of Hoodia in capsules labeled Hoodia: HERE. Sawdust was only one of the components filling the expensive capsule. Another article explains how lab analysis found that 11 out of 17 bottles of Hoodia contained NO Hoodia at all. Read it HERE.

In contrast, quite a few Chines herbs that appeared effective turned out when analyzed in the lab to contain added pharmaceutical drugs. You can read a chilling review of the various pharmaceuticals found on analysis of various Chinese herbs HERE.

Note that the drugs adulterating these herbal preparations included glibenclamide, a powerful sulfonylurea drug. Another was prednisone, which is a powerful corticosteroid that raises blood sugar and can permanently damage beta cells.

And HERE is an academic study of pesticides found in herbal supplements analyzed in the lab in 2004 which reports that "...pesticides were found in 44 out of 87 samples of botanical dietary supplements (the majority of these being ginseng products) suspected of containing pesticides. Over 30 different types of organochlorine, organophosphorus, and organonitrogen pesticide residues were present in these samples, with pentachloroaniline, pentachlorobenzene, and quintozene being the most abundant. A majority of these products contained more than one pesticide; one such sample was found to contain as many as 12 organochlorine compounds. Concentrations of pesticide residues ranged from 0.001 (pentachloroaniline and pentachlorophenyl methyl ester) to 5.57 mg/kg (quintozene)"

It's expensive to do these analyses so most of the herbs and supplements you see in the store do not get them. But based on the testing we do see, it's likely that you have a one in two chance when you buy a supplement that it either doesn't contain what you paid for, or that it contains pesticides and other dangerous contaminants.

So much for "natural" cures.

I have repeatedly heard from users of supplements who claim that the company whose products they use is different from the sleazy weasels I warn about. Further questioning always reveals that they draw this conclusion from claims made by the company itself, usually on its web site.

In fact, it is very difficult to know whether you can trust any supplement company, no matter how well-intentioned, given the complete lack of regulation and the fact that most of them buy their raw materials from China and the third world.

The problem is often beyond the control of even the most legitimate supplement vendors because of their dependence on merchants in third world countries where corruption runs rife. For example, right now, most of the vitamins sold by U.S. companies are manufactured in China and are subject to all the problems with all Chinese products: they are manufactured using polluted water heavy in pesticides and other industrial pollutants and they may very well be adulterated as the track record of Chinese companies for selling adulterated products is very poor.

Unless every batch of raw materials is subjected to extensive and very expensive testing for every possible contaminant, there is no way any company can guarantee the purity of its supplements. The capsule that contains a supplement this month, based on independent lab testing paid for by some journalist, may not contain it next month.

At least with pharmaceutical drugs, despite well-documented company shenanigans, you can trust that you are getting what you pay for in each capsule. And if you are willing to take some time and use Google Scholar you can find out what research studies have found about their effects.

My guess is that one reason for the huge success of "natural" herbs and supplements is that they stimulate the placebo effect, which is very real. People who believe something will make them better often get better--especially if what is wrong with them is something vague that isn't a real illness. But diabetes is a real illness and placebos do NOT lower diabetic blood sugars in any meaningful way.

The only way to lower blood sugar is to either a) cut way back on the carbohydrates in your food, those sugars and starches that metabolize into high blood sugars or b) use drugs that either supplement the insulin you lack, stimulate the production of more insulin by your body, or make the insulin circulating in your body more effective.

Cutting back on the carbohydrates requires no pills. Stop eating carbs and I guarantee you you will see your blood sugars drop. If they don't drop enough, it's time to research effective and safe diabetes drugs. I've done some of the work for you in various article published on the Drugs and Food section of my main diabetes site, recently renamed Blood Sugar 101.

A big part of figuring out which diet or drug might be best for you is figuring out the specific nature of your own diabetes. If you are insulin deficient, you'll need different drugs and dietary approaches from someone who is very insulin resistant but still produces a lot of insulin. That's something we'll discuss further.

But for now, resist the temptation to reach for the magic pills, no matter how beautifully packaged and how upscale the merchant selling them. If you have diabetes you don't need a placebo, you don't need mysterious and questionable substances, you need to cut back on the carbs that raise your blood sugar and if diet doesn't get the job done, you need to figure out what's wrong with you and which well-understood drug might be safe and helpful for you.