What is acarbose and how does it work?

Acarbose lowers your blood sugar by preventing the breakdown of starch into sugar. It may be used alone or in combination with another type of oral diabetes medicine called a sulfonylurea. This medicine is available only with your doctor’s prescription.

Common side effects may include: Stomach discomfort, gas, bloating; Mild diarrhea; or. Mild skin rash or itching.

Acarbose belongs to a class of drugs called Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors. It works by slowing the action of certain enzymes that break food down into sugars. This slows down digestion of carbohydrates to keep your blood sugar from rising very high after you eat.

The glucose lowering effects of metformin monotherapy and acarbose monotherapy are the same by direct comparison, while metformin is a little better by indirect comparison. This implies that the effect of metformin is at least as good as acarbose’s.

Acarbose comes as a tablet to take by mouth. It is usually taken three times a day. It is very important to take each dose With the first bite of each main meal. Follow the directions on your prescription label carefully, and ask your doctor or pharmacist to explain any part you do not understand.

Can you gain weight on acarbose? Acarbose is usually associated with weight loss when combined with exercise and diet monitoring. Studies have shown weight loss, although not significant, following treatment with Acarbose. Other medication combined with acarbose can cause weight gain.

Acarbose is not a cure for diabetes, nor is it a substitute for diet, exercise, oral hypoglycemic agents, or insulin. Adverse effects are gastrointestinal and can be diminished by starting with an initial dosage of 25 mg tid.

Acarbose is Safe and well tolerated, and is associated with a low incidence of gastrointestinal adverse effects; it is well accepted for the treatment of diabetes in Chinese patients. Acarbose is a viable choice for use as an initial therapy in Chinese patients with newly diagnosed T2DM.

Excretion: The fraction of Acarbose that is absorbed as intact drug is almost completely excreted by the kidneys.

Acarbose Significantly reduced the mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure throughout the study period (Figure 5). But, more important, it significantly decreased the risk of developing hypertension.

In intention-to-treat analyses, acarbose was associated with a higher risk of any cardiovascular event (adjusted hazard ratio [HR]: 1.05; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01–1.09), heart failure (HR, 1.08; 95% CI, 1.00–1.16), and ischemic stroke (HR, 1.05, 95% CI, 1.00–1.10) than metformin.

This is the most important part of controlling your condition, and is necessary if the medicine is to work properly. Also, exercise regularly and test for sugar in your blood or urine as directed. For this medicine to work properly It must be taken at the beginning of each main meal.

With the increasing promotion of medicine combinations, various studies have provided gradually increasing evidence that Acarbose combined with metformin treatment has a higher efficacy than monotherapy (17–19).

Take acarbose at the beginning of a meal. The tablets can be chewed with your first mouthful of food, or swallowed with a drink of water. The most common side-effect is wind (flatulence). Remember to follow any advice you have been given about your diet.

It is a starch blocker, and inhibits alpha glucosidase, an intestinal enzyme that releases glucose from larger carbohydrates.
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Acarbose.

These findings show it is possible to combine orlistat and acarbose in a modified-release formulation without increasing GI side effects, with additional benefits of Decreasing hunger And reducing post-meal glucose concentrations, according to the researchers.

After one year, subjects on acarbose had lost 0.46±0.28 kg, which differed significantly from the 0.33±0.25 kg weight gain on placebo (P=0.027). The difference in weight change between acarbose and placebo did not differ significantly in the different treatment strata.

Symptoms of high blood sugar include blurred vision; Drowsiness; dry mouth; flushed, dry skin; fruit-like breath odor; increased urination; ketones in urine; loss of appetite; stomachache, nausea, or vomiting; tiredness; troubled breathing (rapid and deep); unconsciousness; or unusual thirst.

Acarbose inhibits carbohydrate digestion, allowing an excessive amount of undigested carbohydrate to reach the colon. Bacterial fermentation of the carbohydrate produces intestinal gas, which can cause flatulence and abdominal pain.

Following 3 months Of acarbose treatment, the lowest plasma glucose levels at the 3rd and 4th hours increased to 67 mg/dI and 75 mg/dI respectively. Plasma insulin and c-peptide levels were reduced between the 1st and 5th hours, but only the 1st and 2nd hour decrements were statistically significant.

In addition, acarbose has been shown to Reduce cardiovascular complications in type 2 diabetes and prevent hypertension and CVD in individuals with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). Acarbose has a very good safety profile and, owing to its straightforward, non-systemic mode of action, avoids most adverse events.

The plasma elimination half-life of acarbose activity is approximately 2 hours In healthy volunteers. Consequently, drug accumulation does not occur with three times a day (t.i.d.) oral dosing.

Moreover, acarbose was shown to reduce fasting blood glucose by 1.09 mmol/L (28 comparisons; 95% CI 0.83 to 1.36) and 1 h postprandial glucose by 2.32 mmol/L (acarbose; 22 comparisons; 95% CI 1.92 to 2.73).

It occasionally causes diarrhea. Acarbose related colitis has been reported. This note explains how such side effects may occur. Because of small intestine alpha-glucosidase inhibition, increased starch reaches the colon.

Most experts consider Metformin To be the safest medicine for type 2 diabetes because it has been used for many decades, is effective, affordable, and safe. Metformin is recommended as a first-line treatment for type 2 diabetes by the American Diabetes Association (ADA).