---

Background and Objective: There is growing evidence that excess generation of highly reactive free radicals, largely due to hyperglycemia, causes oxidative stress, which followed by further exacerbating the development and progression of diabetes and its complications. The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) on blood glucose and HbA₁c in type 2 diabetic patients.

Materials and Methods: In this clinical trial study, fifty-seven type 2 diabetic patients (14 male and 43 female) with the mean age of 53.5 years old were involved in this study. Upon arrival, subjects were randomly divided into either experimental (n=29) or control (n=28) groups. Experimental group received 300 mg alpha-lipoic acid daily for eight weeks where control group received placebo for eight weeks. After an overnight fast patients' blood samples, were drawn and analyzed for fasting blood glucose, 2 hours post-prandial glucose and HbA₁C. In addition, antropometric indeces for each subject was measured at the beginning and at the end of the study.

Results: There is no significatn differnces regarding weight and BMI in two groups before and after intervention. Also our findings indicated significant decrease in fasting and post-prandial glucose level, in experimental group, after intervention (p<0.05), but no significant change was seen in HbA₁c level. There were no significant changes in parameters measured in control group. There was also a significant decrease in fasting blood glucose in experimental group when compared to control group (p<0.05), but there is no significant changes in HbA₁c level.

Conclusion: This study showed that alpha-lipoic acid supplement as an important antioxidant reduce blood glucos concentration in type 2 diabetes.

---

Background and Objective: Artificial sweeteners are chemical or natural substances used in foods and beverages. The aim of this study was to compare the glycemic control status before and after the use of artificial sweeteners with conventional nutrition in type 2 diabetic patients.
Methods: This quasi-experimental study was performed on 30 patients with type 2 diabetes (10 males and 20 females) whom referred to the endocrinology clinic in Tabriz in west of Iran. At the beginning of the study, patients were asked to refrain from using dietary supplements containing artificial sweeteners for three months and continue their usual diabetic diet. Then, each patient was received nutritional supplements containing artificial sweeteners including sugar, special biscuits and candy under a dietitian for three months.
Results: Mean glucose level of fasting serum and serum glucose 2 hours after meals in patients during the second trimester increased significantly with the use of artificial sweeteners compared to the first three months (P<0.05). The mean fasting glucose in patients with diabetes mellitus was 121.33±25.3 mg/dl at the end of the first trimester and it was 152±42 mg/dl at the end of the second trimester. The mean serum glucose level increased from 164.44±44.44 mg/dl to 222±7.2 mg/dl
2 hours after meals. The mean of HbA1C in the first trimester was 6.89±0.9% and in the second quarter it was 7.4±1%.
Conclusion: The use of artificial sweeteners in diabetic patients may result serum glucose increase.