Customer Reviews

Insulow Dietary Supplement, Capsules, 180-Count Bottle

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I am writing to correct the reviewer saying that this product is Alpha lipoic acid and Biotin. It is not Alpha lipoic acid. ALA is a cheap mixture of natural and synthetic lipoic acids. Insulow is pure natural R+ lipoic acid. Not ALA or Krala or any of the other cheap inventions of the supplement industry. R+ ALA is now sold by BASF in Germany for diabetics as a drug to manage blood sugar and neuropathy. BASF's costs 4 times as much as Insulow and is not even available in the US. Luckily the FDA classifies R+ ALA as a supplement and not a drug.
There is a study from the Univ of Toronto showing that this ingredient is more effective than the 4 leading drugs used for glucose uptake enhancement in diabetics. That study is on the American Diabetes Association website. Insulow is not the same as ALA and biotin by any means.
Dr. Richard Bernstein now recommends Insulow in his latest Diabetes Self-Management book.

I bumped into Insulow while researching natural ways to combat high blood sugar for diabetes about a year ago. I've been taking Insulow along with another natural herbal preparation I added to my regime after that, for about a year, and my a1c has been below 7 ever since . . . WITHOUT taking any prescription meds! I also try to eat right and exercise, although I don't exercise as much as I should. Considering that my a1c was 12.9 when I was first diagnosed, that's pretty amazing! My endo isn't sure what's working, but something obviously is. I'll keep taking the Insulow as long as it's available and keeps working for me.

After just 3 weeks of using this product my fasting blood sugar has dropped to 111. Thats over 40 points!!!! Pretty impressive. My Dr. started me on Metformin but it made me very sick. This stuff works much better wiht no side effects. I wish I had known about this years ago as I have been fighting with high fasting sugars for years. This product is a god send.

This product did nothing to lower my blood sugar readings. However, it must work for some people as it is recommended by Dr. Richard Bernstein, the chief proponent of extreme low-carb diets. Dr. Bernstein. who likes his patients to maintain A1-C numbers in the normal range (not just in the "normal-for-diabetics" range), writes that he adds it to diets of patients who are not quite hitting the target with traditional medications. Perhaps I will give it a try at a later date, but for now I am getting better results with other products,

I agree with Victoria Kron that the automatic re-order program, with its discount, was very helpful and it's a pity it was discontinued.

As Dr Bernstein has noted, Insulow is not inexpensive (about $1/day), and that's especially true for someone of retirement age who's living on social security (type II diabetes hits our age group disproportionately). So the loss of the auto-order and discount program is making me look around to see whether another rALA product might be a better choice once the extra cost of biotin (depleted by rALA, but added to Insulow to balance out) is factored in.

The single problem I found was that the rALA apparently (several anecdotal reports plus one lab study) interferes with conversion of thyroid T4 to T3 in some individuals, making them hypothyroid even if they're taking levothyroxine supplements. I'm one of them, evidently, because quite a lot of my hair fell out -an *extremely* distressing problem- even though I was taking my usual supplement. The one lab study I found said that the interference happened when the rALA was taken "with" the thyroid supplement. I couldn't find the whole study, just the abstract, so I don't know what "with" meant to them. I've started taking the thyroid at a different time in the day, so we'll see whether that makes a difference.

The good news is that Insulow (rALA) works! Taken with EPO (Evening Primrose oil, an enhancer), it definitely lowered my glucose numbers. They didn't go to normal for me (83), but they did go significantly lower (high 90s). So I intend to keep taking Insulow or its equivalent until I no longer need it.

If you have problems with blood glucose (type II diabetes, "pre-diabetes", "metabolic syndrome", "insulin resistance", "syndrome X", etc) rALA+EPO+biotin might well be a good choice for you, if you watch out for thyroid problems.

(Edit on 27th April, 2009. With Insulow's recent 33%(!) price jump to $40/bottle, the bulk r-ALA products are looking ever better. If the manufacturers were smart enough to add biotin, I'm sure they'd give Insulow a run for our money.)

I had a blood glucose level of 156. After three months on taking this product as directed, it was only reduced to 152.

I started taking Insulow after a friend recommended it. I have had minor problems with regulating my blood sugar levels for a while - a sudden need for sugar, a rush when I eat the food, then a drop back to low energy after the sugar spike has worn off. I eat a lot of carbohydrates (I love pasta, rice, potatoes etc etc) and noticed that I felt drowsy after eating meals that contain them. Now I take 2 Insulow capsules with my meals and so far I haven't had the low-energy drowsy effect at all. I guess this product works by breaking down the carbohydrates in an effective way. Sometimes it actually seems to give me an energy boost which is always good for motivating me to go to the gym and get rid of some of that post-Christmas body weight!!

My mom is a Type 2 diabetic and I ordered this for her. She is having metformin as well.
While not dramatic, this does help to reduce her BG levels by 5-10 points.

Insulow has been working well, along with a low carb diet, to keep my blood sugars pretty near normal. I saw a marked improvement right away once I started using it. I know I will continue to use this product as part of my diabetes control.

My bloodsugars are totally out of control even with oral medication. I've tried every other diabetes medication with bad side effects. I tried this based on other reviews and I can't say that it has had any effect good or bad. I haven't used it regularly so maybe if I used it at every meal it might have more effect. The only positive is that I've had no side effects with Insulow. My physician scoffed when I told him that I had been using Insulow. He told me that only prescription medications would have any effect on my blood sugars.