Red Light Therapy Can Lower Post-Meal Blood Sugar by Nearly 30 Percent

This content material initially appeared on On a regular basis Well being. Republished with permission.

By Becky Upham

Key Takeaways

• Publicity to a therapeutic crimson gentle lamp for quarter-hour after a meal lowered blood sugar ranges by nearly 30 p.c in wholesome volunteers.
• Crimson gentle remedy has been examined in a number of different situations, together with wound therapeutic and despair.
• It’s not but clear whether or not crimson gentle remedy might help individuals with diabetes handle their blood sugar, however researchers hope it may at some point be a useful add-on remedy.

A particular wavelength of crimson gentle, when shone on an individual’s again for quarter-hour, can considerably scale back blood sugar ranges after meals, in line with a brand new research printed on February 20 within the Journal of Biophotonics.^[1]

Researchers discovered that crimson gentle remedy had twin advantages in blood sugar management: A single dose decreased general blood glucose ranges and the way excessive blood sugar ranges peaked after a glucose tolerance check, which mimics the physique’s response to a meal.

Although the research was carried out in wholesome individuals with out diabetes, the therapy — which entails no injections or tablets — has the potential to be used with diabetes management after meals, in line with the lead writer, Michael Powner, PhD, a senior lecturer in neurobiology within the faculty of well being and psychological sciences on the Metropolis College of London. “That is vital, as very excessive blood glucose ranges have the potential to break tissues round our physique,” says Dr. Powner. These fluctuations in blood sugar spikes additionally contribute to growing older, he provides.

The Therapeutic Energy of Crimson Gentle Has Been Studied in Most cancers, Melancholy, and Many Different Well being Situations

The crimson gentle remedy examined within the research is a type of photobiomodulation (PBM), which makes use of gentle to stimulate residing issues into therapeutic themselves.^[2] It’s been studied in many alternative situations, together with most cancers, macular degeneration, despair, wound therapeutic, pores and skin situations, and totally different areas of dentistry.

To discover the impression of 670 nanometers (nm) of crimson gentle on blood sugar ranges, the researchers recruited 30 wholesome individuals who weren’t taking any drugs and had no recognized metabolic situations, together with diabetes. They have been randomized into two teams of 15 individuals every.

At the beginning of the trial, each teams took a fasting oral glucose check to ascertain a baseline. Members consumed solely water for at the very least 10 hours, then on an empty abdomen drank a syrupy 5 ounce drink that contained 75 grams (g) of sugar. Then they recorded their blood sugar ranges each quarter-hour over the subsequent two hours.

Inside every week, one other blood glucose check was given, this time with one group receiving a 15-minute 670 nm crimson gentle publicity on the naked pores and skin of their higher again. These within the placebo group have been positioned identically for quarter-hour, however the gentle was not turned on.

Crimson Gentle Group Had a 12 P.c Discount in Peak Blood Sugar Ranges In contrast With Placebo

Researchers discovered that in comparison with the baseline, these within the crimson gentle group had near a 28 p.c discount in blood glucose ranges following glucose consumption, and it decreased most glucose spiking by 7.5 p.c. In contrast with the placebo group, the crimson gentle group had a 12 p.c discount in peak blood sugar ranges.

“This research confirmed that in wholesome individuals with out diabetes, short-term photobiomodulation lowered the height glucose degree after an oral glucose tolerance check,” says Marilyn Tan, MD, an affiliate professor of drugs and an endocrinologist at Stanford Well being Care in California who was not concerned within the research. The findings counsel that crimson gentle remedy for individuals with out diabetes improves glucose tolerance — however it isn’t clear what it might imply for individuals with diabetes, or what the long-term impacts is perhaps, provides Dr. Tan.

How Crimson Gentle Remedy Might Enhance Blood Sugar Management

Earlier analysis has established that long-wavelength gentle between roughly 650 to 900 nm (spanning the seen by means of to the near-infrared vary) can enhance mitochondrial manufacturing of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a nucleotide that gives power for important mobile processes.

Researchers suspect that elevated ATP manufacturing may trigger signaling modifications all through the physique, resulting in enhancements by means of what’s often known as the “abscopal impact” — when a therapy in a single space of the physique may cause mobile modifications in one other a part of the physique, explains Powner.

“We’ve chemical messages being despatched round in our blood. Earlier research have reported modifications to those chemical messages following crimson gentle publicity, which might be initiating the change in how glucose is used round the entire physique after crimson gentle publicity,” he says.

Might Crimson Gentle Remedy Be Used to Deal with Diabetes and Cut back the Want for Insulin and Medicines?

“If the constructive results of crimson gentle on glucose ranges are validated in bigger research, in individuals with prediabetes or diabetes, our findings counsel that utilizing crimson gentle earlier than meals for a couple of minutes would seemingly assist scale back the next enhance in blood glucose,” says Powner.

Tan agrees extra analysis is required to develop on these findings. “This was a small research of 30 sufferers, and once more, they have been wholesome and didn’t have diabetes at baseline,” she says. Long run and huge research in individuals with diabetes have to be carried out, which would come with longer-term follow-up to higher perceive how sustained this glucose response is, Tan says.

“We additionally don’t know the way it will impression glucose responses within the setting of different diabetes drugs, equivalent to insulin. We additionally don’t know the long-term impression of repeated publicity to photobiomodulation,” she says.

If the findings have been constructive in these forms of trials in individuals with diabetes, it may imply that crimson gentle remedy may scale back postmeal blood sugar, which could imply these individuals may use much less insulin or fewer diabetes drugs, says Tan.