Diabetes mellitus, usually referred to simply as diabetes, is an inability to metabolize carbohydrates resulting from inadequate insulin production, absence of insulin production, or impaired utilization of insulin. There are several types of diabetes including type 1, type 2, and gestational diabetes, as well as a more recently recognized form of adult-onset diabetes called latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA).¹ Diabetes insipidus, a condition characterized by dysregulation of water and electrolyte levels, is not related to these other forms of diabetes.²

This article concerns type 2 diabetes, which is sometimes erroneously called adult-onset diabetes or non-insulin-dependent diabetes. In fact, type 2 diabetes can affect children and sometimes requires treatment with insulin. In people with type 2 diabetes, the pancreas often makes enough insulin, particularly when a person is first diagnosed, but the body’s cells grow increasingly unresponsive, or resistant, to its signals. Type 2 diabetes frequently responds well to natural therapies; however, if the condition is not well managed, the pancreas can become unable to make adequate insulin, leading to the need for treatment with insulin. For many people with type 2 diabetes, lifestyle changes and/or oral glucose lowering medications can keep the condition well managed.

In people with diabetes, the cells cannot properly respond to insulin by taking up circulating glucose, the main source for cellular energy. As a result, glucose stays in the blood, causing blood glucose levels to rise, while the cells become starved for glucose.

People with diabetes produce high levels of inflammatory molecules and tissue-damaging free radicals; as a result, they are at increased risk for a wide array of complications including heart disease, atherosclerosis, cataracts, retinopathy, stroke, poor wound healing, infections, Alzheimer’s disease, fatty liver, and damage to the kidneys and nerves.^3,4,5 In addition, those with diabetes have higher rates of certain complications if they also have high homocysteine levels.^6,7,8 The risk of diabetes-related health complications can be decreased with proper blood glucose management and a healthy lifestyle.

If using supplements to help manage type 2 diabetes, it's important to know that they could potentially enhance the effects of drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes, including insulin or other blood glucose-lowering agents, and increase the risk of hypoglycemia. Therefore, people using medications to treat their type 2 diabetes should only take supplements under the supervision of a doctor.