Diabetes continues to be a major health concern in the United States, with the American Diabetes Association reporting that 25.8 million people had the disease in 2010, or 8.3 percent of the population. Cumin seed has been used as a spice in Mexican, Thai and Indian cuisines for centuries, but it's also showing promise for its effects on blood sugar levels. To spice up your diet and potentially prevent diabetes, use cumin in curries or use a cumin supplement with your doctor's permission.
Identification
Diabetes mellitus is a condition characterized by your body's inability to process glucose, or blood sugar, in a normal way. This inability allows glucose to soar to unhealthy levels. There are four basic categories of the disease: prediabetes, where your blood sugar levels are moderately elevated; Type 1 diabetes, which is genetic and shows up in childhood; Type 2 diabetes, which is preventable and often caused by obesity; and gestational diabetes that occurs during pregnancy. Untreated diabetes can lead to complications such as heart disease, strokes, blindness and amputations.
Blood Sugar Effects
A research team in Pakistan treated both diabetic and healthy rabbits with cumin doses of 0.5 to 1.5 g per kg of body weight. Their results, published in "Phytotherapy Research" in March 2000, showed that within 2 hours of administration, blood sugar levels were lowered in the rabbits, reaching maximum benefits within four to eight hours. A study published in "Food and Chemical Toxicology" in 2010 compared the effects of cumin to the prescription drug glibenclamide that's often used to help control blood sugar levels and found that cumin had an even better effect than the prescription drug in controlling oxidative stress. Cumin also helped inhibit the formation of advanced glycation end products, or AGE, linked to diabetic blood vessel damage.
Diabetic Complications
An accumulation of AGE can lead to several other serious health complications with diabetes. A study published in the "British Journal of Nutrition" in June 2009 investigated 17 different plants and found that five of them---cumin, ginger, cinnamon, black pepper and green---were able to significantly inhibit AGE glycation in vivo. Another common side effect of diabetes is the development of cataracts, where the lens of the eye become cloudy and results in a loss of vision. A study published in 2009 in the "Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry" found that cumin extracts were able to delay the progression of cataracts in diabetic rats.
Considerations
There have been no cumin studies on human diabetic patients, which means there is no basis to determine if animal lab results apply to humans, nor which dosage levels might be beneficial or dangerous. Although cumin is generally considered safe, if you have prediabetes or diabetes, check with your doctor before taking cumin supplements. There is the potential that cumin combined with diabetes medications might cause your blood sugar levels to go too low.
References
- MayoClinic.com; Diabetes; March 2009
- American Diabetes Association: Statistics
- Drugs.com; Cumin; 2009
- "Food and Chemical Toxicology"; Antihyperglycemic Activity and Inhibition of Advanced Glycation End Product Formation by Cuminum Cyminum in Streptozotocin Induced Diabetic Rats; A.G. Jagtap and P.B. Patil; Aug-Sep 2010
- "The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry"; Delay of Diabetic Cataract in Rats by the Antiglycating Potential of Cumin Through Modulation of Alpha-Crystallin Chaperone Activity; P.A. Kumar, et al.; July 2009
- "British Journal of Nutrition"; Prevention of Non-Enzymic Glycation of Proteins by Dietary Agents: Prospects for Alleviating Diabetic Complications; M. Saraswat, et al.; June 2009
