Flaxseed oil supplementation manipulates correlations between serum individual mol % free fatty acid levels and insulin resistance in type 2 diabetics. Insulin resistance and percent remaining pancreatic ß-cell function are unaffected.

OBJECTIVES: Elevated total serum free fatty acids (FFAs) concentrations have been suggested, controversially, to enhance insulin resistance and decrease percent remaining ß-cell function. However, concentrations of individual serum FFAs have never been published in terms of their relationship (correlation) to homeostatic model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and percent remaining ß-cell function (HOMA-%ß) in the type 2 diabetics (T2Ds). Alpha-linolenic acid consumption has a negative correlation with the insulin resistance, which in turn is negatively correlated with the remaining ß-cell function. The primary objective was to test the hypothesis that there would be different relationship (correlation) between the blood serum individual free FFA mol % levels and HOMA-IR and/or HOMA-%ß in T2D. The secondary objective was to test the hypothesis that flaxseed oil, previously being shown to be ineffective in the glycemic control in T2Ds, may alter these correlations in a statistically significant manner as well as HOMA-IR and/or HOMA-%ß. METHODS: Patients were recruited via a newspaper advertisement and two physicians have been employed. All the patients came to visit one and three months later for a second visit. At the second visit, the subjects were randomly assigned (double blind) to flaxseed or safflower oil treatment for three months, until the third visit. RESULTS: Different statistically significant correlations or trends towards among some serum individual free FFA mol % levels and HOMA-IR and HOMA-%ß, pre- and post-flaxseed and safflower oil supplementation were found. However, flaxseed oil had no impact on HOMA-IR or HOMA-%ß despite statistically significant alterations in correlations compared to baseline HOMA-IR. CONCLUSIONS: The obtained data indicate that high doses of flaxseed oil have no statistically significant effect on HOMA-IR or HOMA-%ß in T2Ds, probably due to the additive effects of negative and positive correlations.

Flaxseed lignan complex administration in older human type 2 diabetics manages central obesity and prothrombosis-an invitation to further investigation into polypharmacy reduction.

Aim. Animal and human study evidence supports the hypothesis that flaxseed lignan complex (FLC) at a dose of 600 mg secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG)/day for three months would combat hyperglycaemia, dyslipidemia, blood pressure, central obesity, prothrombotic state, inflammation, and low density lipoprotein (LDL) oxidation. Methods. Sixteen type 2 diabetic patients completed this double-blind, randomised crossover placebo-controlled study. A univariate repeated measures analysis of covariance (significance P < 0.05) was followed by a mixed linear model effects analysis corrected for multiple comparisons (MCC). Results. Prior to MCC, FLC caused decreased fasting plasma glucose, A1c, inflammation (c-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6)), and increased bleeding time. After correction for multiple comparisons, FLC induced a statistically significant increase in bleeding time and smaller waist circumference gain. No treatment effect occurred in the other variables before or after adjustment. Conclusions. It is concluded that FLC significantly increased bleeding time thus reducing the prothrombotic state, reduced central obesity gain as measured by waist circumference, and did not affect significantly the other dependent variables measured after adjustment for multiple comparisons. These findings, not yet published in human type 2 diabetes, suggest that this FLC dose over at least three months, may, subject to further investigation, reduce polypharmacy.