Abstract

BACKGROUND: Gum Arabic (Acacia Senegal) is a water-soluble dietary fiber considered to be safe by the United States Food and Drug Administration since the 1970s.Recent studies showed the therapeutic action of Gum Arabic.

METHODS: It was Quasi-experimental study design. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of regular Gum Arabic ingestion as dietary supplement on accumulative blood glucose (HbA_1c) and body mass index (BMI) among type II diabetes in Jabir Abu Aliz Diabetic Center in Khartoum. 49 type II diabetes were provided with Gum Arabic at the beginning of the trial and educated to add 60 g/day (divided into two portions 30 gm) to their meals for three months. Food consumption, BMI, and HbA1C were assessed for all the patients before and after the consumption of Gum Arabic for three months. Data was processed using SPSS version (20) and paired t- test was used to determine the effect of Gum Arabic on studied parameters.

RESULTS: It showed that regular intake of 60 g/day of Gum Arabic for three months showed slight reduction in BMI for diabetes (no significant difference), and slight change in HbA_1c (no significant difference). This may be due to the fact that majority of the respondents (60%) increased their carbohydrates intake in their daily meals because of winter, also respondents did not abide fully () to consumption of Gum Arabic, where only (32%) of the patients were fully committed to the consumption of Gum Arabic.

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