• Investigation the effects of vitamin C and vitamin E supplementation on level of glucose in diabetic patients
  • Reza Mostafazade,1 Elham safari,2,* Fateme Assar,3
    1. Pharmacy student, School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
    2. Student Research Committee, School of Nursery and Midwifery, Mashhad Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran.
    3. Student Recearch Committee,School of Basic Science,Mashhad Islamic Azad University , Mashhad,Iran


  • Introduction: Diabetes mellitus is a well-known and widespread disease usually occurs when the body becomes resistant to insulin or when the pancreas is unable to produce enough insulins. Genetics, lifestyle, and obesity are the risk factors of diabetes. Vitamin C and vitamin E are two important supplements mostly known for their antioxidant activity. The purpose of this study is to evaluating the association of dietary vitamin C and E intake and glucose’s level in diabetic patients.
  • Methods: This review was performed within articles published at PubMed, Google scholar, Scopus and SID from 2000 to 2019. The keywords were vitamin E, vitamin C, diabetes mellitus, and glucose. By searching this database, 62 articles were found, 26 of them were not related with investigating and 19 of them by reading abstract were removed. All articles chosen from English and Persian articles.
  • Results: Finally, 17 articles were included in the study, in some of them reported that vitamin C and E consumption is effective in controlling level of glucose in diabetic patients. Use of these supplements shows significant decrease in FBS, HbA1c, insulin resistance and increase in SOD and GSH enzymes. Also Vitamin E counteracts high volume of glucose in patients, and enhances glucose-stimulated insulin release in vivo and vitro studies. Vitamin C deficiency increases the risk of type 2 and gestational diabetes mellitus and consumption of fruits and vegetables rich in this vitamin decrease the risk. Vitamin C can also improve effectiveness of Glibenclamide and metformin in decreasing fast blood sugar and postprandial blood glucose. Vitamin E can decrease FBS and insulin resistance in gestational diabetic patients.
  • Conclusion: It seems that vitamin C and E are effective in decreasing glucose’s level and insulin resistance in diabetic patients and can be used in future as adjuvant therapy for diabetes. Therefore, need to be more research done at this topic.
  • Keywords: Vitamin E, Vitamin C, Diabetes mellitus, Glucose