Recombinant glucagon-like peptide-1 (7-36 amide) lowers fasting serum glucose in a broad spectrum of patients with type 2 diabetes

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at Glucagon.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 32 subjects taking part.

RGLP-1 was administered s. c. to 40 type 2 diabetics currently treated by diet, sulfonylurea (SU), metformin, or insulin in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over trial; preexisting treatments were continued during the study.

Fasting bloods were taken the morning after for glucose, insulin, and glucagon measurements.

How the Study Was Run

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

The subjects were allocated by chance, so the Glucagon group and the comparison group should start out alike.

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

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

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

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Blood Glucose, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Fasting, Glucagon, Glucagon-Like Peptide 1, Glucagon-Like Peptides and Hypoglycemic Agents.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Glucagon in 32 subjects.

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.

Its findings take up roughly 6 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2003 (Hormone and metabolic research = Hormon- und Stoffwechselforschung = Hormones et metabolisme), a journal based in Germany.

More context: the Glucagon compound page, all human trials.