Effect of foxtail millet (Setaria italica) supplementation on serum glucose, serum lipids and glycosylated hemoglobin in type 2 diabetics.

Abstract

The present study was conducted to show the long term effect of low glycemic index (GI) foxtail millet (setaria italica) biscuits (GI = 50.8) and burfi, a sweet product (GI = 37.5), on diabetics. This case control clinical trial was conducted on 30 type 2 diabetic subjects who were equally divided into 3 groups: experimental group 1 (EG-1), experimental group 2 (EG-2) and control group (CG). The EG-1 patients were supplemented with 100 g foxtail millet biscuits and EG-2 patients with 100 g foxtail millet burfi for 30 days. The study was further carried on for the next 30 days with EG-1 and EG-2 with cross over randomized clinical trial, during which EG-1 and EG-2 acted as their own control. The metabolic parameters studied were serum glucose, serum cholesterol, serum LDL, serum HDL, serum triglycerides, serum VLDL and glycosylated hemoglobin (GHb). Significant reduction was recorded in serum glucose (23%), serum cholesterol (6%), serum LDL (20%) and GHb (16.5%), and a slight decrease in serum triglycerides and VLDL. Serum HDL increased significantly by 23 per cent. Almost similar results were observed for foxtail millet burfi as for foxtail millet biscuits. During the cross over randomized clinical trial, all metabolic parameters except for HDL increased upon stopping the supplementation. Thus, it is concluded that foxtail millet as a low GI food product leads to modest improvement in long-term glycemic and lipidemic control in type 2 diabetics.