High Blood Sugar and Insulin Resistance

What approaches can help you manage high blood sugar and insulin resistance?

Conventionalthe medical care offered by conventionally trained physicians and most hospitals; examples are insulin and metformin, self-carelifestyle actions and behaviors that may impact cancer outcomes; examples include eating health-promoting foods, limiting alcohol, increasing physical activity, and managing stress, and complementaryin cancer care, complementary care involves the use of therapies intended to enhance or add to standard conventional treatments; examples include supplements, mind-body approaches such as yoga or psychosocial therapy, and acupuncture approaches are all available to help you control high blood sugar or correct insulin resistance. These almost always require monitoring and guidance from a health professional.

Top practices and therapies for managing high blood sugar and insulin resistance

Therapies and practices we have reviewed

The effects of these practices and therapies are described below on this page. Full details of evidence are on the therapy reviews, accessible through the image links below.

Further therapies

Therapies recommended in clinical practice guidelines but that we haven’t yet reviewed; see guidelines ›

Other therapies

Several other therapies have some evidence of benefit for managing high blood sugar and insulin resistance. The benefit may be meaningful or even substantial, but our reviews show the evidence so far is preliminary. These are described below.

Conventional approaches

Many conventional approaches are available to control high blood sugar and diabetes. Your medical team should be able to help you find the best approach for your situation.

Self-care practices

Evidence supporting these statements is detailed in the linked pages.

Lower insulin resistance among people with type 2 diabetes eating a diet high in inositol hexaphosphate (IP-6, abundant in cereals, legumes, and nuts) (preliminary evidence)

Lower markers of insulin resistance or metabolic syndrome among people eating foods rich in carotenoids (carrots, squash, mango, cantaloupe, sweet potatoes and tomatoes) and especially lycopene (tomatoes, guava, watermelon, papaya, red oranges, and pink grapefruit), but not after only 4 weeks (preliminary evidence)

Lower markers of blood sugar and insulin resistance among a general population drinking green tea, but not among people with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes (modest evidence)

Lower levels of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) among people eating 8 small meals per day compared to 3 (preliminary evidence)

Higher risk of high blood sugar among people eating at night (preliminary evidence)

Combining Eating Well and Moving More: preliminary and weak evidence

Better insulin sensitivity and higher incidence of reduced diabetes medication among people with type 2 diabetes eating a vegetarian diet and participating in physical exercise (preliminary evidence)

Lower markers of glycemic imbalance among men with prostate cancer participating in a diet and an exercise program (weak evidence)

Better markers of insulin growth factor among men participating in a diet and exercise program (weak evidence)

Better markers of blood sugar and insulin among people participating in both diet and exercise (weak evidence)

Complementary therapies

We present complementary therapies supported by evidence for managing high blood sugar and insulin resistancea condition in which cells in your muscles, fat, and liver don’t respond well to insulin and can’t efficiently take up glucose from your blood for energy. Those with the best evidence are presented first. Details of research evidence are on our reviews of each therapy.

A therapy may show a stronger effect or have more evidence in some situations than in others.

Good or modest evidence of benefit

Good evidencesignificant effects in one large or several mid-sized and well-designed clinical studies (randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with an appropriate placebo or other strong comparison control or observational studies that control for confounds) (this is the CancerChoices definition; other researchers and studies may define this differently) indicates a relatively high degree of confidence that the therapy is linked to the outcomes as noted. Modest evidencesignificant effects in at least three small but well-designed randomized controlled trials (RCTs), or one or more well-designed, mid-sized clinical studies of reasonably good quality (RCTs or observational studies), or several small studies aggregated into a meta-analysis (this is the CancerChoices definition; other researchers and studies may define this differently) means several smaller or at least one large study have found the effect described.

Better blood sugar and insulin levels among people with cancer following a ketogenic diet (preliminary evidence)

Better markers of metabolism during radiation therapy among women with breast cancer following a ketogenic diet (preliminary evidence)

Better blood sugar and insulin levels among people with diabetes following a ketogenic diet (strong evidence)

Decreases in markers of insulin-like growth factors among overweight or obese people with cancer treated with metformin (preliminary evidence)

Lower blood glucose after a meal but not while fasting among people with blood cancers without diabetes or prediabetes at baseline treated with metformin (preliminary evidence)

Good evidence of lower levels of blood sugar among nondiabetic people with breast or endometrial cancer treated with metformin

Lower levels of insulin-like growth factors among nondiabetic or mixed groups of people with breast or endometrial cancer treated with metformin (preliminary evidence)

Lower insulin levels among nondiabetic or mixed groups of people with breast or endometrial cancer treated with metformin (preliminary evidence)

Lower insulin levels among nondiabetic people with colorectal cancer treated with metformin (preliminary evidence)

Insufficient (conflicting) evidence of an effect on insulin resistance among nondiabetic people with breast, endometrial, or ovarian cancer treated with metformin

No evidence of an effect on a marker of glycemic control among men with normal glycemia and locally advanced prostate cancer treated with metformin

Not specific to cancer:

• Lower levels of insulin, insulin resistance, or insulin-like growth factors among people without cancer or diabetes treated with metformin (preliminary evidence)
• Lower levels of insulin, insulin resistance, and/or blood sugar among overweight or obese people, or with impaired glucose tolerance or insulin resistance, treated with metformin (preliminary evidence)

Lower insulin resistance and higher insulin sensitivity among people treated with vitamin D (modest evidence)

Slightly lower risk of type 2 diabetes among women with the highest vitamin D intake from supplements (modest evidence)

Higher insulin sensitivity and better blood glucose levels among people at risk for type 2 diabetes with higher vitamin D 25(OH)D levels (preliminary evidence)

Lower vitamin D 25(OH)D levels among people with diabetes (preliminary evidence)

Lower insulin resistance (HOMA) and better insulin sensitivity among people with diabetes or insulin resistance treated with vitamin D₃ (preliminary evidence)

Lower insulin levels among women with polycystic ovary syndrome taking vitamin D supplements, but only when used in combination with calcium, vitamin K, zinc, or magnesium (weak evidence)

Weak (conflicting) evidence of an effect on glycemic control (HbA1c), fasting blood glucose, insulin levels, and other measures of blood glucose and insulin balance among people with diabetes or insulin resistance

Vitamin D and calcium together: modest evidence

Better blood sugar and insulin balance among people treated with both vitamin D and calcium (modest evidence)

Therapies with preliminary or weak evidence of benefit for high blood sugar and insulin resistance

Preliminary evidencesignificant effects in small or poorly designed clinical studies OR conflicting results in adequate studies but a preponderance of evidence of an effect (this is the CancerChoices definition; other researchers and studies may define this differently) typically indicates that not much research has been published so far, although the outcomes may be meaningful. Weak evidenceone or more case studies, supported by animal evidence OR small treatment effects of limited clinical significance OR studies with no controls OR weak trends of effects (this is the CancerChoices definition; other researchers and studies may define this differently) may mean that the effects are small or that only very preliminary research has been published.

Therapies with no evidence or insufficient evidence of benefit

Reishi mushroom ›

Not specific to cancer:

• No evidence of a clinical effect on blood sugar or insulin resistance among people with type 2 diabetes treated with reishi mushrooms in a combined analysis of 3 small studies

Vitamin D and whey protein

Not specific to cancer:

• No evidence of an effect on markers of blood glucose and insulin resistance during participation in progressive resistance training among adults aged 50–75 years with overweight or obesity and with type 2 diabetes treated with whey protein and vitamin D₃ in one trial

Further therapies we have not yet reviewed

Those in bold are evaluated favorably in a clinical practice guideline for people with diabetes; see guidelines ›

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