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. 2025 Feb;34(1):118-130.
doi: 10.6133/apjcn.202502_34(1).0012.

Effects of water-soluble vitamins on glycemic control and insulin resistance in adult type 2 diabetes: an umbrella review of meta-analyses

Yi Chai  1 , Chengyu Chen  1 , Xueru Yin  1 , Xinru Wang  1 , Wenyan Yu  1 , Haochen Pan  1 , Ruiying Qin  1 , Xiyue Yang  1 , Qiuzhen Wang  2
Affiliations

Effects of water-soluble vitamins on glycemic control and insulin resistance in adult type 2 diabetes: an umbrella review of meta-analyses

Yi Chai et al. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2025 Feb.

Abstract

Background and objectives: Growing evidence has explored the effects of water-soluble vitamins supplementation on glycemic control and insulin resistance in diabetic patients; however, the results of previous meta-analyses are inconsistent. To address this, we conducted an umbrella review to synthesize the evidence on these effects.

Methods and study design: A systematic literature search in Web of science, PubMed, and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews was performed from 2012 to November 2022. he quality of the meta-analyses was assessed using AMSTAR-2 and GRADE.

Results: Fourteen systematic reviews and meta-analyses met the inclusion criteria, examining the effects of five water-soluble vitamins (B-1, B-3, biotin, B-9, and C) on glycemic control and insulin resistance. The findings suggest that vitamin C supplementation can improve glycemic control in type 2 diabetes, as indicated by reduced FBG and HbA1c, with more significant effects observed for durations longer than 30 days.

Conclusions: Insulin resistance is improved by folic acid supplementations. More well-designed individual randomized controlled trials are needed in the future, as well as meta-analysis of higher quality.

Keywords: glycemic control; insulin resistance; type 2 diabetes; umbrella review; water-soluble vitamin.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with a financial or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials dis-cussed in this manuscript

Figures

Figure 2
Figure 2
Results of assess the methodological quality of meta-analysis
Figure 3
Figure 3
Summary of the strength of evidence for the effects of water-soluble vitamin supplementations. The left column indicates the meta-analyses with GRADE ratings that were very low, low, moderate, or high. Numbers in the right column indicate the modified consistency rating (number of primary randomized controlled trials with a statistically significantly positive effect or no statistically significant effect for each outcome).
Figure 4
Figure 4
The quality of primary randomized controlled trials in meta-analysis
Figure 5
Figure 5
The effects of water-soluble vitamin supplementation on FBG
Figure 6
Figure 6
The effects of water-soluble vitamin supplementation on HbA1c
Figure 7
Figure 7
The effects of water-soluble vitamin supplementation on insulin
Figure 8
Figure 8
The effects of water-soluble vitamin supplementation on HOMA-IR
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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