Clinical Study of the Putative Insulin Sensitizing Effect and Antidiabetic Mechanism of Multiple Dose Fenugreek Capsules Administration in Healthy Human Volunteer

Fenugreek is plant cultivated since ancient times and used as a spice and medication, especially as an antidiabetic, with no sciencitif proof on the mechanism of action. A double blind, multiple dose, randomized, placebo controlled clinical study was performed in 13 healthy human volunteers (Fenugreek treatment n=8 and Placebo treatment n=5) to assess the insulin sensitivity with the hyperinsulinemic euglycaemic clamp (HEG) test before and after a 10 day treatment with t.i.d. 1000 mg Fenugreek capsules (daily total of 3000 mg). The HEG test is the gold standard for exactly measuring insulin sensitivity. The average rate of glucose infusion (GIR) to compensate for the hypoglycaemic effect of the administered insulin infusion is an accepted measure of tissue insulin sensitivity (De Fronzo et al.).