Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
www.pharmpress.com/fact
Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2004; 9: 12
The aims of this study were to determine a whole-system Vedic intervention’s feasibility and clinical impact for newly diagnosed type 2 diabetics.
Sixty adult patients with baseline glycosylated haemoglobin (A1c) values between 6.0 and 8.0 were recruited and randomly assigned to either an experimental or a control arm. Treatment for the Vedic group included exercise, an Ayurvedic diet, meditation instruction and an Ayurvedic herb supplement (MA 471). Control patients attended standard diabetes education classes with primary care physician follow-up. Clinical outcomes were assessed at 3 and 6 months, and included A1c, lipids, blood pressure and weight.
Ninety percent of randomised patients completed the study and there were no significant adverse study-related events. Self-reported compliance was comparable for both groups. Using ANCOVA, we found no significant differences for clinical outcomes between on-study patient groups, although trends favoured the Vedic group. When we included a factor measuring how much baseline A1c exceeded the median (6.4), however, we found statistically significant improvements in the Vedic group for A1c (P = 0.021 at 3 months and P = 0.001 at 6 months) and weight (P = 0.005 at 3 months and P = 0.016 at 6 months).
These results suggest that the Vedic intervention may have benefit for patients with higher baseline A1c values, and that further research is warranted.
This research was supported by a grant (R21 AT 01324) from the National Center for Complementary/Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of Health, USA.
