My son five year old was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes about three months ago. We caught it very early. He is still in the honeymoon stage currently. I have been introduced to some food supplements by MannaTech, called Ambrostose-plant saccharides and Phyto-Loe-nutraceutical and another called PLUS — which is indicated in helping regulate the endocrine system. Is anyone familiar with the positives and negatives of giving my son these gluconutrients? I am looking for feedback on the probable complications or contraindications of using these gluconutrients. Many testimonials I have heard are positive but I would like some outside information.

I talked to our senior dietitian about these products and she had not heard of any of them nor could I find any reports in PubMed. I think it unlikely that they are of direct value or in any way harmful. One of the problems though that families face when a child develops diabetes is that you have to surrender a certain amount of control over their health to the demands of getting good ‘control’. Quite a lot of people turn to alternative remedies because it makes them feel that this restores some degree of direct involvement in care. So long as you tell the doctor what you are doing and it is not too costly and does no harm, the placebo effect can sometimes help.

DOB
Additional comments from Lois Schmidt Finney, diabetes dietitian:

Some of these can be harmful. I guess I would like to know more about the second one listed. The first one seems plant-based, so I have less of a problem, but we have seen some seemingly acceptable “remedies for diabetes” recently taken off the market since they can do more harm than good.

LSF