Does adding garlic [Allium sativum] with antidiabetic therapy help achieving better glycemic control in type 2 diabetic patients

With high incidence of diabetes and a wide spread belief among the general public that garlic has beneficial effects on cardiovascular risk factors., we designed a study to evaluate the blood glucose lowering effects and potential adverse effects of garlic in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The study was a 12 weeks randomized, single-blind placebo controlled study, comparing the additional blood glucose lowering effects of dried garlic powder tablet 300 mg [standardized to provide 1.3% allicin equivalent to 0.6% allicin] twice daily combined with standard anti diabetic therapy [which the patient is already taking] with that of standard antidiabetic therapy alone in type 2 diabetic patients. At the end of 12 weeks it was found that changes in blood glucose [P <0.01] and cholesterol [P <0.001] were significantly different between the garlic and placebo groups. Adding garlic to an anti diabetic regimen could be a good and safe method to achieve a good glycemic control in type 2 diabetic patients. Long term clinical trials at different doses of garlic is needed to further strengthen the current findings

Essential hypertension

Hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus also tend to coexist. The goal of antihypertensive therapy should consist of reducing cardiovascular morbidity and mortality associated with hypertension by a strategy focused on lowering blood pressure while minimizing the impact on other associated cardiovascular risk factors like diabetes mellitus. To observe and compare any change in serum glucose in patients with newly diagnosed essential hypertension with Atenolol and Amlodipine. Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Basic Medical Science Institute [BMSI], Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre [JPMC], Karachi. 12 weeks [90 days] Patients with newly diagnosed essential hypertension [N=70] were enrolled in this study and were divided into two groups, each comprised of 35 patients and were given tablet Atenolol 150/100mg once daily and tablet Amlodipine 5/10 mg once daily respectively for 90 days. Fasting Blood glucose was measured on day of inclusion i.e. day 0, day 45 and day 90. At each fortnightly visit, blood pressure was recorded. Atenolol raised mean blood glucose levels from baseline levels of 91.82 +/- 1.34 mg/dl to 99.73 +/- 1.33 mg/dl on day 90 [P<0.001] while Amlodipine had no significant effect on blood glucose level [P= N.S]. Atenolol may not be a good choice for essential hypertensive patient with type 2 diabetes mellitus as it is found to impair the normal glucose metabolism. Long term clinical trials in diabetic patients are needed to confirm the observation of the present study