Zinc May Not Help Diabetes Symptoms After All

Filed in archive Treatment on January 26, 2007

As always, controversy rages concerning 'natural' treatments for diabetes. Long regarded as a way to control diabetic symptoms, zinc is now being devalued by some researchers. Different arguments continue:

For:

Diabetics should probably take zinc supplements! Zinc plays a key role in the regulation of insulin production by pancreatic tissues and glucose utilization by muscles and fat cells.1 The abilities to synthesize and secrete insulin and use glucose are impaired in the zinc deficient state.2,3 Intestinal zinc absorption rates and plasma zinc levels in diabetic patients are reduced.4,5,6,7 Zinc is involved in the regulation of insulin receptor-initiated signal transduction mechanisms3 and insulin receptor synthesis.

And against:

Zinc supplements may not help prevent type 2 diabetes. Some makers of zinc supplements claim the pills can help.
A group of researchers looked at 192 clinical trials. They found just one study that met the criteria for inclusion in their review. That was a 4 week study of 56 obese women. It found that zinc did not have an effect on the development of diabetes.

More information on zinc's (supposed?) effect on diabetes can be found here, here, and here.

What do you think?