George Marakis¹, Ann F. Walker¹, Hugh C.R. Simpson², Martyn Byng³ and Paul A. Robinson<sup>4

1</sup>Hugh Sinclair Unit of Human Nutrition, School of Chemistry, Food Biosciences & Pharmacy, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom. ²Diabetes Centre, RBH & Battle Hospital NHS Trust, Melrose House West, Reading, United Kingdom. ³Department of Applied Statistics, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom. ⁴Pathology Laboratory, RBH & Battle Hospital NHS Trust, Reading, United Kingdom.

Abstract:

Objective: To investigate the effects of a daily multinutrient supplement on plasma indicators of glycemic and lipemic control and psychological wellbeing in type 2 diabetic patients.

Design: Double-blind, randomised, cross-over pilot intervention study.

Subjects: Twenty-nine subjects (15 males and 14 females) with non-insulin-dependent type 2 diabetes.

Intervention: Either a multinutrient supplement or placebo were provided daily during two intervention periods of 3 months separated by a 4 week washout.

Results: There were no significant changes of multinutrient treatment compared with placebo in HbA1c, fasting or postprandial plasma glucose and insulin concentrations and fasting plasma lipid concentrations. Using a validated wellbeing questionnaire (W-BQ 22) designed for diabetic subjects, the multinutrient supplement resulted in improvements in the secondary outcome of wellbeing of the volunteers in terms of anxiety (p = 0.020), vitality (p = 0.013) and general wellbeing (p = 0.021), relative to placebo.

Conclusions: Findings from this pilot study suggest that a multinutrient supplement may enhance the wellbeing of diabetic patients, even in the absence of a significant improvement in clinical parameters. If substantiated in a full clinical study the results would have important implications for the prevention of late complications of diabetes, as psychological factors can hinder successful management of the condition and adversely affect metabolic control.