In 15 young women, acarbose taken with rice blunted the early rise in blood glucose

What the research found

JMIR Formative Research published a randomized crossover study on 6 November 2026. Airi Sekine and Kei Nakajima at Japan Women's University asked whether blocking salivary amylase with acarbose changes the early rise in blood glucose. Fifteen young healthy women each passed through four conditions: a placebo oligosaccharide, swallowing 50 mg of acarbose, and eating 150 g of rice with either 50 mg or 100 mg of acarbose. The peak rise in glucose came at 30 minutes for placebo and for acarbose swallowed alone, and at 60 minutes when 50 mg was taken with rice. At 30 minutes the rise was lower with rice plus 50 mg and with rice plus 100 mg than with acarbose swallowed alone. The glucose area under the curve did not differ between acarbose swallowed alone and rice plus 50 mg. The abstract calls the women young and does not give ages. This is a small meal test in healthy women. Acarbose here is a prescribed diabetes medicine, not a supplement to start from a headline. DOI 10.2196/98441. Not medical advice. Not a substitute for a prescribed medicine. Off-label prescription use is clinician-only. VitaLonga does not diagnose, treat, or cure disease. Never start, stop, or replace a prescription with a supplement on the basis of a headline.

Evidence level: Clinical trial. This is among the stronger kinds of evidence, but one study rarely settles a question.

Read the original at JMIR Formative Research