Endocrinology and metabolism (including diabetes, hormones)
Pharmacology and pharmacy
MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES
Medicinal chemistry
The effects of deuterium depletion on the human organism have been, except for the
antitumor action, seldom investigated by now and the available data are scarce. In
oncological patients who also suffered from diabetes and were treated with deuterium-depleted
water (DDW), an improvement of glucose metabolism was observed, and rat studies also
proved the efficacy of DDW to reduce blood sugar level. In the present work, 30 volunteers
with pre- or manifest diabetes were enrolled to a clinical study. The patients received
1.5 L of water with reduced deuterium content (104 ppm instead of 145 ppm, equivalent
12 mmol/L in human) daily for 90 days. The effects on fasting glucose and insulin
level, on peripheral glucose disposal, and other metabolic parameters were investigated.
Fasting insulin and glucose decreased, and insulin reaction on glucose load improved,
in 15 subjects, while in the other 15 the changes were opposite. Peripheral glucose
disposal was improved in 11 of the subjects. In the majority of the subjects, substantial
increase of serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and significant decrease
of serum Na+ concentration were also seen—the latter possibly due to activation of
a Na+/H+ antiporter by the decreased intracellular deuterium level. The results support
the possible beneficial role of DDW in disorders of glucose metabolism but leave questions
open, requiring further studies.
