The effects of increased serum plasmalogen levels, induced by 2 wk of myo-inositol treatment, on several clinical and biochemical parameters were examined in 17 hyperlipidemic subjects including some with metabolic syndrome. After myo-inositol treatment, significant increases in plasmalogen-related parameters, particularly ChoPlas, and significant decreases in atherogenic cholesterols including small dense LDL, were observed. Among the hyperlipidemic subjects treated with myo-inositol, compared to subjects without metabolic syndrome, subjects with metabolic syndrome had a significant increase in plasmalogens and a tendency towards reduced small dense LDL, high sensitivity C-reactive protein, and blood glucose levels. Correlation analyses between the measured parameters showed that plasmalogens, as well as HDL, function as beneficial factors, and that small dense LDL is a very important risk factor that shows positive correlations with many other risk factors.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18635905
Eighty postmenopausal women affected by the metabolic syndrome were enrolled prospectively in the study and treated with diet plus supplementation of myo-inositol (2 g twice daily plus diet: intervention group) or with diet plus placebo (control group) for 6 months. They were evaluated at baseline and after 6 months for insulin resistance (homeostasis model assessment ratio [HOMA] insulin resistance), lipid profile, and blood pressure. RESULTS: Myo-inositol plus diet improved systolic and diastolic blood pressure, insulin resistance, cholesterol, and triglyceride serum levels with highly significant differences, compared with the groups treated only with diet and placebo. In the group treated with myo-inositol, a decrease in diastolic blood pressure (-11%), insulin resistance (-75%), and serum triglycerides (-20%) and an improvement in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (22%) were shown. CONCLUSIONS: Supplementation with myo-inositol may be considered a reliable option in the treatment of metabolic syndrome in postmenopausal women.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20811299
Administration of D-chiro-inositol to diabetic rats, Rhesus monkeys and now to humans accelerated glucose disposal and sensitized insulin action. A defect in vivo in the epimerization of myo-inositol to chiro-inositol in insulin sensitive tissues of the type 2 diabetic rat has been elucidated. Thus, administered D-chiro-inositol may act to bypass a defective normal epimerization of myo-inositol to D-chiro-inositol associated with insulin resistance and act to at least partially restore insulin sensitivity and glucose disposal.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11900279
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10582551