Vanadium in Glucose Metabolism: Past, Present and Future

For over one hundred years it has been known that vanadium exerts an influence on glucose metabolism in humans. Why this influence or effect exists has only been partly elucidated. Furthermore adapting this effect in the treatment of disease has yet to be seized upon successfully. The purpose of this paper is to look at vanadium and its proposed mechanism of action as well as to review many of the pertinent cells, animal and human studies that have been performed and the results obtained in each of these studies. Finally, this review will examine recent published work on vanadium and look at possible future directions. This review examined all currently published human studies that have so far been performed. Inclusion criteria were that the study had to be performed as an intervention, had to have human patients, and the patients had to have a diagnosis of diabetes either Type 1 or Type 2 with a hemoglobin A1C of 6.5% or greater. Also, measurements such as fasting blood glucose, and hemoglobin A1C had to be obtained both preand postintervention. Exclusion criteria included studies that did not obtain these measurements or where designed to look at bioavailability rather than glycemic control. Results from analyzing previous studies on human populations demonstrated a 0.61% reduction in hemoglobin A1c. This is demonstrated in a forest plot examining selected studies. Oral vanadium is a potential therapeutic option for the treatment of either Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Humans. Human clinical trials have demonstrated both a short term as well as a long term beneficial effect. There is no current human data to suggest that there are any substantial toxicities outside of mild gastrointestinal discomfort. Further studies are needed to address which particular compound holds the most therapeutic potential, and/or to modify these compounds for greater efficacy and less toxicity.