A Dietary Supplement Containing Cinnamon, Chromium and Carnosine Decreases Fasting Plasma Glucose and Increases Lean Mass in Overweight or Obese Pre-Diabetic Subjects: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Carnosine in this randomized controlled trial publication.

Their aim was to evaluate the effects of 4-month treatment with a dietary supplement containing cinnamon, chromium and carnosine in moderately obese or overweight pre-diabetic subjects, the primary outcome being change in fasting plasma glucose (FPG) level.

Other parameters of plasma glucose homeostasis, lipid profile, adiposity and inflammatory markers were also assessed.

Who Took Part

The study group was 62 subjects.

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

Patients were followed up until 6 months post-randomization.

How the Study Was Run

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

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

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

Some subjects received a placebo instead of Carnosine, giving a reference point.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Blood Glucose, Body Composition, Carnosine, Chromium, Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 and Dietary Supplements.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Carnosine in 62 subjects.

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 2015 (PloS one), a journal based in United States.

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