Konjac supplement alleviated hypercholesterolemia and hyperglycemia in type 2 diabetic subjects--a randomized double-blind trial.

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Mannans, published as a randomized controlled trial.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 2 patients were involved.

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

Feces collected at the end of each experimental period were analyzed for neutral sterol and bile acid contents.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind and crossover study.

Because people in this Mannans study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

Neither the patients nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Mannans, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

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

Fasting blood samples drawn on the initial and final days of each period were determined for plasma lipids and glucose levels.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Amorphophallus, Blood Glucose, Cholesterol, Cholesterol, HDL, Cholesterol, LDL, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 and Feces.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and crossover study of Mannans in 2 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 5 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2003 (Journal of the American College of Nutrition), a journal based in United States.

More context: all human trials.