Tagatose taken daily by people with type 2 diabetes
What it found
In 8 people with type 2 diabetes who took tagatose three times a day for a year, body weight fell and HDL cholesterol rose.
Glycated hemoglobin also fell, but the change was not statistically significant.
What they found
Studies in people
Body weight
After excluding 3 subjects who had oral diabetes medications added or their doses increased during the study, mean body weight fell from 108.4 kg to 103.3 kg.
Glycated hemoglobin
Glycated hemoglobin fell from 10.6% to 9.6%, but the authors report this change was not statistically significant.
HDL cholesterol
In the 6 subjects who did not have lipid-modifying medications added during the study, HDL cholesterol rose from 30.5 mg/dL at baseline to 41.7 mg/dL at month 12.
Side effects
No serious adverse effects were seen during the 12-month treatment period. Ten of the initially 12 recruited subjects had gastrointestinal side effects that tended to be mild and short-lived.
What the authors conclude
“Significant improvements in body weight and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in this pilot study suggest that d-tag may be a potentially useful adjunct in the management of patients with type 2 DM.”
Also in their conclusions
- They say the significant improvements in body weight and HDL cholesterol in this pilot study suggest that d-tag may be a potentially useful adjunct in the management of patients with type 2 diabetes.
How it was done
Earlier work found that oral tagatose blunted the rise in blood sugar during a glucose tolerance test in people with type 2 diabetes and reduced food intake in healthy people. The authors wanted to see whether taking it daily for a year would lead to weight loss and improvements in glycated hemoglobin and blood fats.
They gave 15 g of oral tagatose three times daily with food to 8 human subjects with type 2 diabetes for 12 months, after a 2-month run-in period. Twelve subjects were recruited at the start.
What it can’t tell you
- We summarised it from the abstract only.
- This was a small pilot study with 8 subjects, so the results may not apply to everyone with type 2 diabetes.
- The study did not include a comparison group, so it cannot show that tagatose caused the changes seen.
Who paid
- Authors work at
- University of Maryland School of Medicine, USA
The paper
- Title
- Dietary supplementation with d-tagatose in subjects with type 2 diabetes leads to weight loss and raises high-density lipoprotein cholesterol
- Type
- Clinical trial
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Abstract only
- Cite
- Donner TW, Magder LS, Zarbalian K (2010). Dietary supplementation with d-tagatose in subjects with type 2 diabetes leads to weight loss and raises high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Nutrition research (New York, N.Y.). doi:10.1016/j.nutres.2010.09.007PubMed 21147362DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error