There are only a handful of supplements promoted as being helpful for people with diabetes that actually work. You can read about the ones that don't and learn about the flawed research that is often used to promote them by the people who make money selling them HERE.

To be included on this page, the usefulness of a supplement must be supported by peer reviewed research not funded by someone with a financial stake in the supplement and the supplement should have been recommended by people with diabetes who are known to the online community as objective sources--i.e. not shills for supplement companies who suddenly pop up claiming excellent results for some currently popular supplement.

Vitamin D

Evidence is accumulating that suggests that Vitamin D is low in people who develop Type 2 diabetes. There is also some evidence that Vitamin D improves insulin sensitivity. In November 2007 Diabetes in Control reported a study by Dr. Paul Knekt published in October 2007 in Diabetes Care that found "In a 17-year study of roughly 4,000 men and women, researchers found that individuals with higher blood levels of vitamin D had a 40 percent lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes than those with lower levels of this vitamin."

A review of earlier work pointing to the same conclusion can be found in:

The Role of Vitamin D and Calcium in Type 2 Diabetes. A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Anastassios G. Pittas, Joseph Lau, Frank B. Hu and Bess Dawson-Hughes.The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism Vol. 92, No. 6 2017-2029.

Diabetes Problems 'Vitamin Link' - BBC

Vitamin D also appears to have a positive effect on mood, and it is possible that deficiencies in Vitamin D may be related to the increased incidence of depression found in people with Type 2 diabetes.

Womens Health Study Finds No Effect on Diabetes of Vitamin D and Calcium Supplementation

The Womans Health Study--the people who put an end to the myth that the low fat diet prevents heart disease--came up with the finding that in 33,951 women, supplementation with 400 IU Vitamin D and 1000 mg Calcium made no difference in the number of people who developed diabetes. The finding was described as "robust."

Calcium Plus Vitamin D Supplementation and the Risk of Incident Diabetes in the Women's Health Initiative. WHI investigators. Diabetes Care 31:701-707, 2008

Those who champion Vitamin D claim that much higher doses are required to see an effect. Perhaps.

My own experience with Vitamin D at a dose of 1,000 IU was that for about a week I saw a dramatic change in my insulin resistance as measured by the effectiveness of insulin shots. However, by the end of the second week this effect had completely vanished and my insulin sensitivity remained what it had been before. This stayed true even when I doubled the dose to 2,000 IU.

This makes me wonder if this is a transient, rather than permanent effect. Since many studies are very short term and may only investigate insulin resistance during the day the subject is at the lab, this is quite possible.

Vitamin D Improves Outcome in Chronic Kidney Disease

A study published in May of 2008 found that patients with chronic kidney disease given Calcitriol (a form of Vitamin D) had a 26% lower mortality and a 20% lower rate of going onto dialysis over a period of almost two years.

Association of Oral Calcitriol with Improved Survival in Nondialyzed CKD
Abigail B. Shoben et. al. Journal of the American Society of Nephrology Published online May 7, 2008.
doi: 10.1681/ASN.2007111164

Recommended Dose:

1000 IU per day. According to The oil based versions may be better than the hard pill. No need to buy overpriced special versions as they may actually be less effective than the regular ones. There is some controversy about what level constitutes an overdose but if you are not getting a lot of sun, adults should be fine taking 1000 IU or a bit more daily. If you are taking Vitamin D, ask your doctor to test your Vitamin D level when you get your other blood tests just to be safe.

Benfotiamine

Benfotiamine is another supplement for which there is a growing amount of research suggesting that it might be helpful for people with diabetes. In particular it appears to help neuropathic pain and may reduce the incidence of microvascular complications.

Benfotiamine is a lipid soluble form of vitamin B-1.A study reported by the BBC on August 8, 2007 found that the blood of people with diabetes is very deficient in vitamin B-1 (thiamine) and explained that this had been missed in previous testing for technical reasons.

High prevalence of low plasma thiamine concentration in diabetes linked to a marker of vascular disease.
Thornalley PJ et al, Diabetologia. 2007 Oct;50(10):2164-70.

Other research suggests that thiamine can block the processes that lead to microvascular complications which include neuropathy, retinopathy and kidney disease.

Benfotiamine Prevents Macro- and Microvascular Endothelial Dysfunction and Oxidative Stress Following a Meal Rich in Advanced Glycation End Products in Individuals With Type 2 Diabetes.
Alin Stirban, MD, Monica Negrean, MD, Bernd Stratmann, PHD, Thomas Gawlowski, MS, Tina Horstmann, Christian G?tting, PHD, Knut Kleesiek, MD, Michaela Mueller-Roesel, MD, Theodor Koschinsky, MD, Jaime Uribarri, MD, Helen Vlassara, MD and Diethelm Tschoepe, MD
Diabetes Care 29:2064-2071, 2006.

Benfotiamine blocks three major pathways of hyperglycemic damage and prevents experimental diabetic retinopathy
Hans-Peter Hammes, Xueliang Du, Diane Edelstein, Tetsuya Taguchi, Takeshi Matsumura, Qida Ju, Jihong Lin, Angelika Bierhaus, Peter Nawroth, Dieter Hannak, Michael Neumaier, Regine Bergfeld, Ida Giardino & Michael Brownlee. Nature Medicine 9, 294 - 299 (2003)

Benfotiamine in the treatment of diabetic polyneuropathy--a three-week randomized, controlled pilot study (BEDIP study).Haupt E, Ledermann H, Kopcke W. Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2005 Feb;43(2):71-7.


Clinical Manifestations and Treatment Options for Diabetic Neuropathies
Medscape citing Endocr Pract. 2007;13(5):550-566.

REVIEW: The role of advanced glycation end products in progression
and complications of diabetes.
Su-Yen Goh, Mark E Cooper.J Clin Endocrin Metab. First published ahead of print January 8, 2008 as doi:10.1210/jc.2007-1817.

Recommended Dose:

The dose used in the above experiments with humans varies. As reported they were "two 50 mg benfotiamine tablets four times daily" (400 mg/day), 200 mg/day, or "a combination of benfotiamine (100 mg) and pyridoxine hydrochloride (100 mg)" once a day.

Alpha Lipoic Acid

This expensive supplement has been used in intravenous form to treat neuropathy in Germany. It, like cinnamon, is an insulin mimic. A German study where doctors from Buhl and City Hospital in Baden Baden administered different dosages of ALA and placebo to 74 patients for four weeks and then tested their insulin levels to study insulin sensitivity found that glucose disposal in all the ALA-treated subjects improved by an average of 27% though all dosages appeared equally effective. The lowest dose used was 600 mg taken once a day.

Oral administration of RAC-alpha-lipoic acid modulates insulin sensitivity in patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus: a placebo-controlled pilot trial.Free Radic Biol Med, Aug 1999, 27(3-4) p309-14.Jacob S, Ruus P, Hermann R, Tritschler HJ, Maerker E, Renn W, Augustin HJ, Dietze GJ, Rett K.

However,a review of other studies shows less conclusive results for ALA taken orally rather than intravenously.

Alpha-lipoic acid: a multifunctional antioxidant that improves insulin sensitivity in patients with type 2 diabetes.Evans JL, Goldfine. Diabetes Technol Ther, Autumn 2000, 2(3) p401-13.


Dr. Bernstein writes that he has his patients take it in combination with Evening Primrose oil to potentiate the action of insulin whether "homemade" by the body or injected.

Unfortunately, scanning Internet newsgroups for discussions of this supplement does not turn up much encouraging news. Many people report that the combination caused them intolerable gastric distress. EPO was reported to cause mood swings by others, and almost no one reports seeing significant changes in blood sugar after taking this expensive supplement pair.


Better results are reported with R-ALA which is a specific form marketed in the U.S. under the brand name "Insulow." Dr. Bernstein recommends using the R-ALA form on page 238 of the 3rd edition of Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution.

Recommended Dose:

The Jacobs study cited above used 600 mg orally once a day. Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution, 3rd Ed. currently recommends 2 100 mg tablets every 8 hours to be taken along with one 500 mg capsule of Evening Primrose oil

Some people with Type 2 do report that ALA does help with neuropathic pain and that it does not seem to matter whether they use the time release or regular form.

One caution about ALA:

An editorial in the Japanese Journal 'Internal Medicine'" warns that for people with a specific genetic makeup that makes them extremely likely to develop autoimmune (Type 1) diabetes, ALA may provoke an antibody attack. The explanation for why this happens is that "a-lipoic acid (ALA) is reduced in the body to a sulfhydryl compound" and that sulfur rich compounds stimulate the immune attack. This does not appear to be a concern for people who do not have a strong history of autoimmune diabetes.

The Novel Agent, Alpha Lipoic Acid, can Cause the Development of
Insulin Autoimmune Syndrome
Yasuko Uchigata.Internal Medicine (Japan).Vol. 46 (2007) , No. 17 pp.1321-1322