Other Medications and Supplements

You probably have encountered other medications or nutritional supplements at some time. Before starting your action plan for diabetes, meet with your physician to review all the medications or supplements that you are taking or that you plan on taking. There are several common medications that you may use for conditions other than diabetes, which may increase or decrease your blood glucose levels. In addition, you may wish to use nutritional or ergogenic supplements to enhance your overall program. With the exception of the two supplements chromium and creatine (which I discuss later), I will not talk about supplements specifically.

Many supplements are available that may or may not be as effective as their labels claim. In addition, many of the supplements have not been investigated thoroughly enough to allow manufacturers to make truthful or accurate claims; this can pose a danger to anyone taking them. But more important, if you were to take a supplement and there was an unanticipated effect on the blood glucose level, it could result in a significant problem with your action plan for diabetes. My personal stance on nutritional supplement use (other than multiple vitamins) in people with diabetes is that their use should be discouraged until we have more definitive information about their effects on glucose control. However, as more data become available, supplements may have a place in the treatment of diabetes. With further research, the following supplements may prove to be of some benefit to people with diabetes.

Chromium Picolinate

Creatine