Study: Sesame oil and diabetes

reference

Sankar D, Ali A, Sambandam G, Rao R. Sesame oil shows synergistic effect with antidiabetic drugs in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.Clin Nutr.December 15, 2010. (Epub ahead of print)

design

This open-label study included 60 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus divided into three groups; 18 patients received sesame oil, 20 patients took a daily dose of glibenclamide (glyburide), and 22 patients took both sesame oil and glibenclamide. Patients in the sesame group were provided with sesame oil and instructed to use about 35 grams (about 2.4 tablespoons) per day for cooking or salad preparation for 60 days. Blood samples were collected for analysis at the beginning and after 60 days of the experiment.

Key findings

In this group of type 2 diabetics, sesame oil had a synergistic effect with glibenclamide. The combination therapy lowered blood sugar and hemoglobin A1c significantly more than oil alone or drug alone.

In those who received only sesame oil, total cholesterol levels fell by 20%, LDL cholesterol levels by 33.8%, and triglyceride levels by 14%. For those who received both sesame oil and glibenclamide, these numbers were even better: 22%, 38%, and 15%, respectively. HDL increased by 15.7% in sesame oil patients and 17% in patients receiving the oil and drug combination.

The combination therapy lowered blood sugar and hemoglobin A1c significantly more than oil alone or drug alone.

Effects on practice

This is not the first study to suggest that sesame oil supplementation is beneficial for diabetics. In a 2005 paper on rats with chemically induced diabetes, Ramesh et al. reported that after 42 days of supplementation with 6% sesame oil, mean blood glucose decreased from approximately 322.61 mg/dL to 222.02 mg/dL.¹In 2007, Dhar et al., also in rats with chemically induced diabetes, reported that sesame lignans not only improved the lipid profile but also significantly reduced the peroxidation of LDL cholesterol.²

In 2006, Sankar et al. reported the results of their pilot study in 40 hypertensive diabetics, which found that sesame oil consumption had significant effects in hypertensive diabetics treated with atenolol and glibenclamide. Patients switched to sesame oil for cooking for 45 days and then switched to other oils such as palm or peanut oil for another 45 days. During the sesame oil portion of the study, “systolic and diastolic blood pressure decreased significantly.” When oil substitution was removed, BP values ​​rose again.” During the sesame oil phase of the study, body weight, body mass index, waist circumference, hip circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio decreased. This also applies to plasma glucose, hemoglobin A1c, total cholesterol as well as LDL cholesterol and triglycerides.³

Given these results, it now seems sensible to suggest a little experiment to your type 2 diabetics. Have them eat only sesame oil for eight weeks and see if their lipid profile improves.

Given the parameters that sesame oil improves, we have to ask ourselves whether it may benefit people with metabolic syndrome. It might be worth considering suggesting a similar experiment to people with metabolic syndrome.

As a side note, there has also been recent interest in sesame oil's ability to accelerate wound healing.^4,5,6,7Since a common complication in diabetics is poor wound healing, this measure could also prove useful for this patient group.