Bedtime uncooked cornstarch supplement prevents nocturnal hypoglycaemia in intensively treated type 1 diabetes subjects.

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial looks at Hypoglycemic Agents.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 14 patients were involved.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

The above hypotheses were tested separately (1) by pooling and analysing data from two overnight studies of comparable groups of patients with non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) (14 and 10 patients, respectively), and (2) by a double-blind, randomized 4-week cross-over study in 12 intensively treated IDDM patients.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover study.

The patients were allocated by chance, so the Hypoglycemic Agents group and the comparison group should start out alike.

As a double-blind Hypoglycemic Agents study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Hypoglycemic Agents could be set against what happens without it.

Each person switched between Hypoglycemic Agents and the comparison at some point, usually with a gap in between.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Blood Glucose, Cooking, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1, Hospitals, University, Hypoglycemia, Hypoglycemic Agents and Insulin, Long-Acting.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Hypoglycemic Agents in 14 patients.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 6 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 1999 (Journal of internal medicine), a journal based in England.

More context: all human trials.