Table 1.

Putative natural therapeutic products for T2D

	Effectiveness rating ⁽¹⁾
Product	Possibly Effective	Possibly Ineffective	Likely Ineffective	Insufficient Data
Alcohol	X
Aloe gel				X
Alpha-lipoic acid	X
Ascorbic acid		X
Banaba				X
Beta-carotene		X
Biotin				X
Bitter melon				X
Branched-chain amino acids				X
Buckwheat				X
Caffeine	X
Calcium				X
Cinnamomum cassia				X
Chromium				X
Coenzyme Q₁₀				X
Cranberry		X
Diacylglycerol				X
Docosahexaenoic acid		X
Eicosapentaenoic acid		X
Eugenia jambolana		X
Fenugreek				X
Fig				X
Fish oil			X
Garlic		X
Ginseng	X
Ginkgo biloba				X
Glucomannan	X
Guar gum	X
Gymnema sylvestre				X
Holy basil				X
Ivy gourd				X
Lutein		X
Lycopene		X
Magnesium	X
Maitake mushroom				X
Milk thistle				X
Niacin / niacinamide	X
Oat bran	X
Olive				X
Prickly pear cactus	X
Psyllium seed husk (blonde)	X
Salacia				X
Table X continued
Soy	X
Stevia				X
Tomato		X
Vanadium				X
Vitamin D				X
Vitamin E				X
Wheat bran		X
Xanthan gum	X

Note:

⁽¹⁾

Ratings are defined as follows: possibly effective = reputable references suggest that the product might work for the given indication based on one or more clinical trials giving positive results for clinically relevant end-points; possibly ineffective = reputable references suggest that the product might not work for the given indication based on one human study giving negative results for clinically relevant end-points; likely ineffective = reputable references generally agree that the product is not effective for the given indication, based on two or more randomized, controlled, clinical trials giving negative results for clinically relevant end-points and published in established, refereed journals.

The effectiveness ratings come from the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database (www.naturaldatabase.com) accessed on 29 July 2006, copyright © 1995-2006, Therapeutic Research Faculty (all rights reserved). Used with permission.