Background and Objectives: Although oral hypoglycemic agents have beneficial therapeutic effects in the control of diabetes, associated complications poses problem for their intake. Recently use of herbal medicines, like fenugreek seeds, with antidiabetic properties and the least side effects, have been considered as an alternative for therapeutic usage. This study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of fenugreek seeds on fasting blood glucose (FBS), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1) and serum lipids in type II diabetic patients.
Materials and Methods: A clinical trial study was performed in year 1999 on 23 Type II diabetic patients who were referred to Endocrine and Metabolism Research Center, Isfahan. These patients were not on oral hypoglycemic or antihyperlipidemic agents and did not use them with a constant dose during the investigation. They were asked to use 5 g of fenugreek seeds powder before their lunch and dinner (10g/day) for 2 months. Food records, height, and weight along with results of laboratory findings such as FBS, HbA1 TG, total cholesterol, VLDL-C, HDL-C, and LDL-C were recorded at the beginning and at the end of the study and were compared using paired t-test. SPSS-6 software was used to analyze data.
Results: After exclusion of 6 cases for personal problems, the results of 17 patients were studied. Findings showed that FBS, TG and VLDL-C decreased significantly (P=0.04, 0.025, 0.02 respectively) after taking the fenugreek seeds. Weight, body mass index (BMI) and caloric consumption remained unchanged during the study. Also HbA1, HDL-C and LDL-C did not change significantly. Conclusion: This study shows that fenugreek seeds can be used as an adjuvant in the control of type II diabetes mellitus.