Assesment of propolis supplementation on insulin resistance in diabetic patients

Diabetes mellitus is a common endocrine disease . The number of people with diabetes over the last twenty years has doubled . Asia as a result of rapid economic growth , as the center of the epidemic in the world . Iran is among the countries with a high prevalence of diabetes mellitus . Use of medicinal plants as adjunctive therapy along with medication always been original . In recent years the tendency of patients to alternative therapies and traditional medicine has increased.
Among patients referred to clinics of University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran , 67 people were selected and randomly divided into two groups,intervention or placebo. Patients in the intervention group received 3 tablets of 300 mg bee propolis and in the control group received placebo . The study lasted 12 weeks . Serum insulin and insulin resistance index were evaluated at the beginning and end of the study.
57 patients completed the study . The average demographic characteristics , anthropometric indices , serum insulin and insulin resistance index at the beginning and end of the study between the two groups showed no significant difference.
In this study , supplementation with bee propolis for 12 weeks , on the serum insulin and indices of insulin resistance in patients with type II diabetes is not effective . Further studies are needed to make a final decision.