Does viscous fibre supplementation influence glycaemic control in type 2 diabetes?

Takeaway

• Viscous fibre supplementation improves conventional markers of glycaemic control beyond usual care in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Why this matters

• Evidence from previous randomised controlled trials (RCTs) suggests that viscous dietary fibre may offer beneficial effects on glycaemic control and improves cardiovascular disease risk profile.

Study design

• Meta-analysis of 28 RCTs ≥3 weeks in duration involving 1394 patients with type 2 diabetes, identified after a search across electronic database.
• Funding: None disclosed.

Key results

• Compared with control and in addition to standard of care, median dose (~13.1 g/day) of viscous fibre significantly reduced:
  • HbA1c level (mean difference [MD], −0.58%; P=.0002; I², 91%),
  • fasting blood glucose (MD, −0.82 mmol/L; P=.001; I², 92%) and
  • homeostatic model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR; MD, −1.89; P=.02; I², 94%).
• Viscous fibre supplementation did not show any effect on fasting insulin (MD, −17.56 pmol/L; P=.08; I², 90%) and fructosamine (MD, −0.12 pmol/L; P=.37) vs control group.
• The certainty of evidence was moderate for HbA1c, fasting glucose, fasting insulin and HOMA-IR and was low for fructosamine.

Limitations

• Heterogeneity among included studies.