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06.06.2019

Propolis increases insulin sensitivity

If people with type 2 diabetes take 2 propolis capsules every day, their insulin sensitivity increases and their insulin levels drop. According to researchers from Ahvaz Jundishapur University in Iran, the effect is so strong that supplementation with propolis in this group can significantly reduce the risk of complications.

Study
The researchers experimented with nearly one hundred type 2 diabetics for 90 days. The subjects did not use insulin yet and were not allergic to bee products.

Half of the subjects took placebo capsules daily. The other half took a capsule twice a day with 500 milligrams of propolis (1000 milligrams of propolis / day).

The researchers used a product from Iranian Shahdine Golha. You see it above.

Results
Propolis supplementation improved insulin sensitivity.

In the experimental group, insulin levels dropped by 45 percent. Moreover, after these subjects had swallowed propolis for 90 days, the concentration of hemoglobin A1C decreased by 0.98 percent. Hemoglobin A1C is an indicator of the total exposure to potentially toxic doses of glucose over a longer period.

Such a decrease reduces the risk of diabetes-related complication by 21 percent.

Click on the figures below for larger versions.

In the subjects in the placebo group, the eGFR decreased by 20.7 percent. That means that their kidney function deteriorated. This decrease was absent from the subjects who had used propolis.

According to the researchers, a possible mechanism of action for propolis is that propolis reduces the production of inflammatory factors such as TNF-alpha and - to a lesser extent - CRP.

Wild speculation on our part
We have written in the past about the positive effects of cinnamon extracts and chlorogenic acid on insulin sensitivity. Most bioactive substances in cinnamon and chlorogenic acid have a chemical structure similar to that of caffeic acid phenylethyl acid [CAPE], probably the most important bioactive substance in propolis. It is very possible that these substances share one working mechanisme.

Structurally different insulinogenic substances are Q10 and the bioactive substances in oyster mushroom. They probably work via a mechanism other than CAPE.

Could you combine Q10, oyster mushroom and propolis?

Source:
Sci Rep. 2019 May 13;9(1):7289.

More:
How propolis kills breast cancer cells 23.02.2014

Archives:
Royal Jelly, Propolis & Bee Polls
Insulin & Glucose Metabolism

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