Zinc’s role in the glycemic control of patients with type 2 diabetes: a systematic review

Abstract

Past research has shown the importance of zinc in several metabolic processes, such as the glucidic metabolism. The present systematic review aims to discuss zinc's participation in the glycemic control of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) patients. In order to accomplish that, a systematic search was performed in the Pubmed database using the following indexed and theme-related descriptors: "zinc" AND "type 2 diabetes mellitus", AND MeSH terms related to glycemic control combined with the boolean operator OR. In total, 1078 articles were retrieved from the research, of which 15 articles of original studies conducted with DM2 patients were included, with three being about the effect of mineral supplementation and 12 reporting observational studies. The main findings of these studies consisted of low body contents of zinc and high excretion of zinc in urine. Hyperglycemia was one of the mechanisms that caused these alterations owing to its interference in zinc reabsorption via renal cells. Another evidence was the negative correlation between the glycated hemoglobin percentage (%HbA1c) and the plasma zinc levels. Additionally, it has been observed that zinc supplementation in DM2 patients has improved glycemic control, since the %HbA1c significantly reduced in these individuals. This present review shows the positive effect of adequate zinc levels on glycemic control, whether it is through dietetic ingestion or supplementation, since its role in insulin homeostasis is clear.

Zinc restriction promotes β-cell hyper-hormonemia and endocrine pancreas degeneration in mice

“…After a stimulus for insulin release, amylin and zinc may be immediately co-distributed locally, but to date no evidence for interaction within the β- granule has emerged. In fact, zinc plays a role in glycemic control [61] and our results suggests that dietary zinc restriction induces a relative insulin resistance ( Fig. 1E ) and impaired endocrine pancreatic function associated with preferable apoptotic pattern despite the insulin crystallinity reached under moderate dietary zinc restriction ( Fig.…”

Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, Diabetes Mellitus, and Zinc/ Zinc Transporters: Is there a Connection?

“…They found that zinc supplementation improved liver conditions in type 2 Dm rat models through multiple pathways, in which GRP78 linked ER stress and LC3-II-linked autophagy are ameliorated to some degree. The results of a systematic review by Barbosa de Carvalho et al [60] about the role of zinc in patients with type 2 Dm confirming the role of zinc in controlling circulating glucose concentration through maintenance of insulin homeostasis. Based on these positive findings, the authors concluded that adequate dietetic ingestion and/or zinc supplementation are essential in the control of type 2 Dm.…”

Preventing Diabetes and Diabetic Cardiovascular Diseases with Dietary Zinc

“…An earlier systematical evaluation of the literature and meta-analysis of the effects of zinc supplementation on diabetes reported that zinc supplementation has beneficial effects on glycemic control and promotes healthy lipid parameters [15]. This was further confirmed by subsequent systemic review, showed that zinc supplementation in T2D patients has improved glycemic control, since the %HbA1c significantly reduced in these individuals [16]. In addition, a recent randomized, doubleblind, placebo-controlled trial confirmed that zinc supplementation for 12 weeks among diabetic foot ulcer patients had beneficial effects on parameters of ulcer size and metabolic profiles [17].…”