Archives of Medical Science (Jan 2023)

The effects of oral trehalose on glycaemia, inflammation, and quality of life in patients with type 2 diabetes: a pilot randomized controlled trial

  • Somayyeh Hashemian,
  • Mehrnaz Shojaei,
  • Shabnam Radbakhsh,
  • Sorour Ashari,
  • Maryam Matbou Riahi,
  • Zeinab Shateri Amiri,
  • Stephen L. Atkin,
  • Maciej Banach,
  • Mohammad Bagherniya,
  • Seyed Ahmad Emami,
  • Amirhossein Sahebkar

DOI
https://doi.org/10.5114/aoms/159048
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 19, no. 6
pp. 1693 – 1700

Abstract

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Introduction Trehalose is a naturally occurring disaccharide of 2 glucose molecules, which has been suggested as a potential therapeutic agent to reduce blood glucose and ameliorate diabetes-related complications in type 2 diabetes (T2D). This study aimed to determine the efficacy of medium-term trehalose treatment in patients with T2D. Material and methods A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial in 40 patients with T2D was undertaken; 20 ingested trehalose 3.3 g/day and 20 placebo (sucrose), for 3 months. Parameters of glycaemic indices, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP), mood status, and quality of life were measured. Results CRP was significantly lower with trehalose treatment (–0.62 ±0.3 mg/l, p = 0.02); however, no differences in glycaemic indices of fasting blood glucose (FBG) (–7.1 ±10.7 mg/dl, p = 0.15), glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) (–0.1 ±0.4%, p = 0.73), insulin (0.73 ±0.8 µU/ml, p = 0.39), or insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) (0.19 ±0.33, p = 0.56) were seen between groups after 12 weeks. Depression and stress scores were lower with trehalose compared to the placebo group (p = 0.02 and p = 0.05, respectively), whilst the quality-of-life score was higher with trehalose compared to placebo (p = 0.03) at the end of study. Between-group differences in these indices did not reach statistical significance (–2.36 ±1.20, –2.21 ±1.39 and 3.00 ±1.76 for depression, stress, and quality-of-life score, respectively) (p > 0.05). The pro-oxidant antioxidant balance (PAB) did not differ between groups (–4.6 ±12.8, p = 0.72). Conclusions 12 weeks of treatment with 3.3 g/day of oral trehalose significantly improves CRP as a marker of inflammation, with potential favourable effects on quality of life, depression, and stress levels, but overall glycaemic control and pro-oxidant-antioxidant balance were unaltered during this time frame.

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