White Sesame Seed Oil Mitigates Blood Glucose Level, Reduces Oxidative Stress, and Improves Biomarkers of Hepatic and Renal Function in Participants with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

Objectives: The study was designed to investigate the impact of white sesame seed oil (WSSO) consumption on fasting blood glucose (GLU), insulin (INS), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), and hepatic antioxidant enzymes. A secondary aim was to check the influence on serum biochemistry, hepatic, cardiac, and renal functions.

Methods: Forty-six participants with type 2 diabetes were recruited and randomly divided into two equal groups: diabetic control (DCON) and diabetic sesame oil (DSO). At baseline and 30, 60, and 90 days, blood samples were drawn and analyzed. Two-way repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to evaluate the difference between groups and across time.

Results: In both groups, GLU, INS, and HbA1c were not significantly different at baseline (mean 187.07 ± 5.63 mg/dl, mean 12.12 ± 1.03 μU/ml, and mean 7.55 ± 0.37%, respectively). At 90 days, GLU was significantly (p < 0.05) decreased in DSO (137.83 ± 3.16 mg/dl) when compared with DCON (218.13 ± 5.92 mg/dl), while INS was significantly increased in DSO (23.13 ± 1.15 μU/ml) as compared to DCON (7.93 ± 0.38 μU/ml). At 90 days, HbA1c was significantly lower (p < 0.05) in DSO as compared to DCON. Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances were significantly lower (p < 0.05) in DSO (1.08 ± 0.05 [MDA] nmol/ml) as compared to DCON (2.26 ± 0.07 [MDA] nmol/ml). In DSO, activities of hepatic antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase) increased while in DCON these activities decreased significantly (p < 0.05) across the time period. Biomarkers of liver, cardiac, and renal functions improved significantly in DSO as compared to DCON.

Conclusion: WSSO as a functional food may play an important role in GLU regulation and against deleterious effects of diabetes in humans with type 2 diabetes.

Keywords:

• Type 2 diabetes
• insulin
• TBARS
• oxidative stress
• sesame oil

Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported under an Indigenous PhD Fellowship for 5000 Scholars (Phase-II) (PIN No. 112-24483-2AV1-165 [50021356]) from the Higher Education Commission, Islamabad, Pakistan. We would like to thank Dr. Mateen Abbas, Mr. Rizwan Razzaq, Mr. Aamir Shahzad, and Mr. Amir Rasheed for their continuous support and help during this project.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.