Abstract

Do Dietary Fibers Impact the Bioavailability of Magnesium among Type 2 Diabetic Patients?

Ihab Naser, Ayman S. Abutair and Wafaa A. ELDerawi

Background: The intake of dietary fiber has been shown to impair the absorption of minerals and trace elements in the small intestine because of their binding and/or sequestering effects.
Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effect of water soluble fiber supplementation from psyllium on magnesium level among type 2 diabetes patients.
Method: Forty Type 2 diabetes patients, non-smokers, aged ?35 years were stratified and simply randomized into two groups; the intervention group, which consists of 20, who were given 10.5 grams of dietary fibers daily, and the control group. Which consist of 20 participants who continued on their regular diet for eight week duration.
Results: After 8 weeks of soluble fiber supplementation, the study showed remarkable and significant reduction in the (FBS) before and after the intervention in the intervention group (163.11 to 116.56 mg/dL), while in the control group, a minor reduction in the fasting blood sugar was reported (156.39 to 151.22 mg/dL). The results did not report any significant changes in the magnesium levels at the end of the intervention program between the two groups (p = 0.580), when Repeated Measure ANOVA was used.
Conclusion: The inclusion of moderate amounts of psyllium to the normal daily diet is safe and dose not decrease magnesium level in the plasma among type 2 diabetes patients.