Nutritional supplements and their effect on glucose control.

As diabetes mellitus (DM) continues to be a growing health concern, many people have been turning to natural health products (NHPs) in order to manage this condition, adjunctive to, or even in place of conventional therapies. In order to keep up with this trend, research focussing on the efficacy and mechanisms behind the most common NHPs has been growing amongst the scientific community. The purpose of this chapter is to search and compile scientific literature focussing on the most commonly used NHPs in diabetes treatment, so to educate health professionals on the efficacy, safety and dosage of these products. From our findings, it is apparent that there are promising results from many studies on the potential benefit of NHPs in the treatment of diabetes. Nonetheless, many of the herbs and single nutraceuticals still require further studies in order to confirm safety, dosage and potential interactions with standard conventional therapies. Soluble fibre, alpha lipoic acid, milk thistle, prickly pear cactus and pycnogenol appear to be the most beneficial in the treatment of diabetes.