Purpose

The purpose of this study was to explore the use of herbal/plant remedies and supplements for type 2 diabetes (T2DM) among Hispanics/Latinxs in North Carolina and identify demographic and diabetes-related factors associated with use of these therapies.

Methods

Baseline data from a family-based diabetes intervention tailored for Hispanics/Latinxs were analyzed using descriptive statistics, bivariate analyses, and logistic regression. A convenience sample of 186 adults with T2DM and adult family members with and without T2DM was recruited from community-based settings and data obtained from face-to-face interviews conducted in Spanish.

Results

Most participants were female (73%) with an average age of 45 years old. Among this predominantly immigrant sample (96%), 78% of participants reported being from Mexico. Sixty percent had T2DM, and average A1C was 8.7% for persons with T2DM. Nearly a third reported using 51 different remedies for diabetes management. Most ingested them concurrently with prescribed medications; however, 11.3% reported altering the dose of medications when using herbal/plant remedies or supplements. Most common items were prickly pear cactus, pineapple, celery, aloe vera, parsley, and spinach. Using herbs/plants was positively correlated with age, A1C, and years with T2DM. The odds of using herbs/plants increased 28% for every 1% increase in A1C (adjusted odds ratio = 1.28, P = .003).

Conclusions

Asking about herbal/plant remedy and supplement use is important. Although there is limited efficacy and safety studies for some items, multiple reported remedies are functional foods with biologically active ingredients to promote health. Patient education is needed on safe and unsafe items and use with prescribed medications.

中文翻译：

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西班牙裔/拉丁裔用于糖尿病的草药/植物疗法和补充剂：功能性食品的来源？

目的

这项研究的目的是探讨北卡罗来纳州的西班牙裔/拉丁裔中2型糖尿病（T2DM）的草药/植物疗法和补充剂的使用，并确定与这些疗法的使用相关的人口统计因素和糖尿病相关因素。

方法

使用描述性统计数据，双变量分析和逻辑回归分析了针对西班牙裔/拉丁裔量身定制的基于家庭的糖尿病干预措施的基线数据。从基于社区的环境中收集了186名患有T2DM的成年人以及有或没有T2DM的成年家庭成员的便利样本，这些数据来自以西班牙语进行的面对面访谈。

结果

大多数参与者是女性（73％），平均年龄为45岁。在这一主要移民样本中（96％），据报告78％的参与者来自墨西哥。患有T2DM的人占60％，患有T2DM的人的平均A1C为8.7％。近三分之一的人报告说使用51种不同的药物治疗糖尿病。大多数人与处方药同时摄入；但是，有11.3％的人报告使用草药/植物疗法或补品时改变了药物剂量。最常见的食物是仙人掌，菠萝，芹菜，芦荟，欧芹和菠菜。使用草药/植物与年龄，A1C和T2DM年龄呈正相关。A1C每增加1％，使用草药/植物的几率就会增加28％（调整后的优势比= 1.28，P = .003）。

结论

询问草药/植物疗法和补充剂的使用很重要。尽管对某些物品的功效和安全性研究有限，但已报道的多种补救措施是具有生物活性成分以促进健康的功能性食品。需要对患者的安全和不安全物品进行教育，并与处方药一起使用。