Propolis Balances Blood Sugar and Improves Insulin Sensitivity

They used what is called the 'euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp experiment' to measure the effects of propolis (this is considered the gold standard for this type of experiment and is considered very reliable). In this procedure, insulin is infused into the blood at a constant rate which results in a drop in blood sugar. To maintain blood sugar at a constant level, sugar is then infused into the blood. The amount of sugar infused to maintain homeostasis is indicative of insulin sensitivity.

Upon performing this, the scientists found that giving the propolis capsules to the animals balanced their blood sugar in a very significant way. It also improved a key measure of insulin sensitivity called the Insulin Act Index.

They went on to conclude that encapsulated propolis can in fact control blood glucose and improve insulin sensitivity.

The scientists did not state how much propolis was fed to the animals so it is difficult to say exactly how much a human would need to ingest in order to obtain these blood sugar balancing effects.

The full study can be found in the journal Evidence Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2012;2012:981896.

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