The Effect of Gum Arabic Diabetic Patients

Abstract

Gum Arabic was chosen for This study , because it has been traditionally used to alleviate a number of ailments and because of the growing interest in replacing synthetic medicines with natural products. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of gum Arabic on the biochemical parameters such as glucose , cholesterol, urea, uric acid and triglyceride levels in type 11 in Sudanese patients; and to identify the degree of metabolic control in selected NIDDM patients. This study was conducted on two groups of diabetic individuals. One group of 51 type ll patients (36 females and 15 males) were given gum Arabic in the form of powder in a 25g/day dose .The second group consisted of 30 type 11 patients (16 female , 14 males ) to serve as control. They remained to using their normal prescribed blood glucose lowering drugs. After 8 months of treatment the level of blood glucose was significantly decreased on the treated group and the control group showed no significant changes in blood glucose. Cholesterol, triglyceride, and urea were also significantly decreased. Uric acid levels were not altered. We concluded fiom this study that gum Arabic administered for 8 months have considerable glucose lowering and hypocholesterolemic effects. It also caused significant reduction in blood urea and triglycerides. All participants in the study showed very good compliance with the treatment and no complaints of side effects were reported.