Effect of Inulin Intervention on Metabolic Control and Methylation of and Genes in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Currently, treatments are being sought to improve the control of type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and inulin has been shown to be effective in reducing glucose levels and other metabolic control parameters. These effects on metabolic control may be associated with changes in the epigenetic modulation of genes of the insulin pathway. Therefore, our objective is to determine the effect of agave inulin in metabolic control parameters and in and genes' methylation in T2DM patients.

METHODS

This was a longitudinal experimental study with 67 Mexican participants who received an intervention of inulin agave (10 g daily) for 2 months. The methylation of the and genes was determined by MSP.

RESULTS

For the gene, we found a significant decrease in the proportions of T2DM patients with methylated DNA after inulin intervention ( = 0.0001). In contrast, the difference in the proportions of the unmethylated gene before and after the inulin intervention was not significant ( = 0.79). On the other hand, we observed changes in the number of T2DM patients' recommended categories for metabolic control depending on the methylation of and genes before and after treatment with inulin.

CONCLUSION

For the first time, we report the modification in the methylation of two genes, and , of the insulin pathway and provide information on the possible relevant role of epigenetics as a key factor in positive changes in metabolic control parameters by inulin intake in T2DM patients.