Vitamin C supplementation is associated with improved blood glucose levels in people with type 2 diabetes, research suggests.

A small Australian study, published in the journal Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, reports that people with type 2 diabetes who took a vitamin C tablet two times a day reduced their blood glucose spikes after meals by 36%.

The Deakin University research revealed people who took the vitamin C supplements spent almost three hours less a day with high blood glucose levels.

A total of 31 participants took part in the study, comprising 26 men and five women, all of whom had type 2 diabetes.

They were spilt into two groups. One group was not given vitamin C, while the second group was given two 500mg doses daily, equivalent to approximately 10 times the intake considered to be normal. Both groups ate standardised meals and were monitored with continuous glucose monitors over a four-month period.

“We found that participants had a significant 36% drop in blood sugar spike after meals. This also meant that they spent almost three hours less per day living in a state of hyperglycemia. This is extremely positive news as hyperglycemia is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease in people living with type 2 diabetes,” said associate professor Glenn Wadley, who led the study.

The participants who took vitamin C also had lower blood pressure, the results revealed.

Prof Wadley added: “Vitamin C’s antioxidant properties can help counteract the high levels of free radicals found in people with diabetes, and it’s encouraging to see this benefits a number of the disease’s common comorbidities, such as high blood pressure.

“For people living with type 2 diabetes, vitamin C could be a potentially cheap, convenient and effective additional therapy, used in addition to their usual anti-diabetic treatments. Study participants with hypertension also had their blood pressure levels drop while taking the vitamin C tablets.”

The findings indicate that vitamin C provides significant health benefit, but as the researchers say, the significance is that vitamin C is used as an “effective additional therapy”, such as a healthy diet.

For many people, eating a real-food diet such as that recommended on our award-winning Low Carb Program can help people lose weight, reduce their blood glucose levels and even put type 2 diabetes into remission.