Effect of Vitamin C Therapy on Serum Parameters in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: Clinical Trial

Abstract

Objective: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a leading cause of morbidity and death worldwide. DM will affect 570.9 million people worldwide by 2025. The usefulness of vitamin C in improving diabetes control has been a point of contention.  Materials and Methods: This clinical-trial double-blind study with control groups was conducted on 164 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The intervention group received 1000 mg of oral vitamin C daily, and a placebo was administered to the controls. To analyze the obtained data, one-way ANOVA was used in SPSS software (version 20). A P< 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Fasting blood sugar (FBS), hemoglobin A1c (HbA1C), triglyceride (TG), and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) were improved significantly in the intervention group (P< 0.05), while the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and cholesterol were unaffected (P> 0.05). HbA1C and LDL levels in the control group increased significantly (P< 0.05). Meanwhile, this group's HDL levels decreased considerably. Conclusion: Our findings support the consumption of vitamin C to complement the primary treatment for DM. According to our results, vitamin C provides a clear benefit over a placebo in the treatment of diabetic patients' serum parameters.