Amino Acid Arginine Found As Effective As Drugs For Glucose Metabolism And Diabetes

371 million people worldwide suffer from diabetes

If you suffer from type 2 diabetes, you may want to consider snacking on nuts to treat the condition. Supplementation with the amino acid arginine, commonly found in almonds and hazelnuts, could help to improve glucose metabolism by as much as 40%, according to new research in mice. The study shows that supplementation with the amino acid significantly improves glucose metabolism in both insulin-sensitive and insulin-resistant metabolisms.

More than 371 million people worldwide suffer from diabetes, of whom 90% are affected by lifestyle-related diabetes mellitus type 2 (type 2 diabetes). In new experiments, researchers from the University of Copenhagen working in collaboration with a research group at the University of Cincinnati, USA, have demonstrated that the amino acid arginine, found in salmon, eggs, and nuts, improves glucose metabolism significantly in both lean (insulin-sensitive) and obese (insulin-resistant) mice.

“In fact, the amino acid is just as effective as several well-established drugs for type 2 diabetics,” says postdoc Christoffer Clemmensen. He has conducted the new experiments based at Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. He is currently conducting research at the Institute for Diabetes and Obesity at Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen, the German Research Centre for Environmental Health in Munich.

Even better than nuts are less energy-dense foods such as salmon and eggs, said Clemmensen.

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