This 2021 rodent study investigated effects of dietary fibers on Type 2 diabetes:
“Nine types of dietary fibers were used to investigate and evaluate their effects on type-2 diabetic rats via physiology, genomics, and metabolomics.
In human clinical trials, supplementation with dietary fibers was found inversely associated with risks of diabetes, along with improvement on glycemic control, lipid profiles, and host homeostasis. However, mixed fibers with diverse types from dietary sources are generally used for treatment intervention in clinical trials, and effects of individual dietary fibers on T2D are seldom discussed.
We found that supplementation with β-glucan, arabinogalactan, guar gum, and apple pectin had favorable effects on alleviating T2D:
Non-bioactive dietary fibers (NBDF) were glucomannan, arabinoxylan, carrageenan, xylan, and xanthan gum.
Relatively high viscosity was an important driving factor of dietary fibers for hypoglycemic effects. Supplementation with β-glucan, arabinogalactan, guar gum, and apple pectin tended to restore gut microbiota composition.
Our study uncovered effects of different dietary fibers on T2D, along with their potential mechanisms. Different dietary fibers influenced host metabolism via different metabolic pathways.”
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jafc.1c01465 “Bioactive Dietary Fibers Selectively Promote Gut Microbiota to Exert Antidiabetic Effects” (not freely available). Thanks to Dr. Yonggan Sun for providing a copy.
I eat oat β-glucan three times a day – Avena nuda whole oats for breakfast, and twice daily 3-day-old Avena sativa hulled 3-day-old oat sprouts. Not to be confused with training my immune system with daily yeast cell wall β-glucan.
I recommend “Section 6. Biological functions” of the 2021 Plants arabinogalactans: From structures to physico-chemical and biological properties (not freely available), which reviewed:
- ACE inhibitory;
- Anti-cancer;
- Anti-complementary;
- Anti-diabetic;
- Anti-ulcer;
- Antiaging;
- Antinociceptive;
- Antioxidant;
- Antitumor;
- Antitussive;
- Antiviral;
- Complementary system;
- Complement fixation;
- Gastrointestinal-protective;
- Hepatoprotective;
- Hypoglycemic;
- Immunomodulating;
- Immunostimulatant;
- Immune enhancing;
- Intestinal immune system;
- Phagocytosis stimulating; and
- Prebiotic activities
properties of different arabinogalactans. Thanks to Professor Michaud for providing a copy.
Arabinogalactans were favored in both papers, yet few are commercially available. In January 2021 I used an arabinogalactan supplement, but it was too expensive to continue. Maybe multiple processing steps were a cost factor?