Guar gum, blood sugar, body mass and blood pressure in adults
What it found
Across 14 trials in adults, guar gum lowered a long-term blood sugar marker but did not change fasting blood sugar, blood pressure or body mass overall.
In people with type 2 diabetes taking higher doses, fasting blood sugar did fall.
What they found
Studies in people
Long-term blood sugar marker
Taking guar gum lowered hemoglobin A1c by an average of 0.47 mg/dL compared with the control group.
Fasting blood sugar overall
Across all adults studied, guar gum made no difference to fasting blood sugar levels compared with controls.
Blood pressure and body mass
Guar gum did not change systolic or diastolic blood pressure. It also had no effect on body mass compared with the control group.
Fasting sugar in diabetes
In patients with type 2 diabetes who took more than 15 g per day, fasting blood sugar fell significantly. This drop was not seen in other subgroups.
What the authors conclude
- They suggest guar gum may help improve blood sugar control in people with type 2 diabetes.
- They note that current clinical trials are not sufficient to form guidelines for medical practice.
How it was done
The authors wanted to evaluate how guar gum supplements affect blood sugar control, blood pressure and body mass in adults.
They pooled results from 14 randomized controlled trials in adults. They compared groups taking guar gum supplements against control groups. The studies were gathered from databases covering research up to January 2022.
What it can’t tell you
- We summarised it from the abstract only.
- A review combining many trials can show patterns across studies, but individual trial quality affects the certainty of those patterns.
- The findings apply only to adults and cannot show what happens in children.
Who paid
- Conflicts
- Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
- Authors work at
- Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Iran; Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran; University of Nebraska-Lincoln, NE
The paper
- Title
- The effects of guar gum supplementation on glycemic control, body mass and blood pressure in adults: A GRADE-assessed systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials
- Type
- Systematic review and meta-analysisThe authors follow a set, published method to find every relevant study, then combine the numbers from them into one result.
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Abstract only
- Cite
- Javad Alaeian M, Pourreza S, Yousefi M, et al (2023). The effects of guar gum supplementation on glycemic control, body mass and blood pressure in adults: A GRADE-assessed systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials. Diabetes research and clinical practice. doi:10.1016/j.diabres.2023.110604PubMed 36958432DOI
Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error