Insulin Autoimmune Syndrome in a Health Supplement User: The Effectiveness of Cornstarch Therapy for Treating Hypoglycemia
Open accessAbstract
A 70-year-old woman with no history of diabetes was admitted to the hospital for the management of hypoglycemia. Her fasting plasma glucose level was 54 mg/dL with an extremely high serum immunoreactive insulin level (1210 μU/mL). She had high titers of anti-insulin antibodies and exhibited the DRB1*0406 genotype for HLA-DR4, leading to a diagnosis of insulin autoimmune syndrome. She had been taking several health preparations for approximately 10 years; however, all were thiol group-free. Due to frequent episodes of nocturnal hypoglycemia, the health preparations were discontinued and the patient was treated with cornstarch. This protocol successfully ameliorated the hypoglycemic episodes and normalized the patient's laboratory and serological test results.
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Uncooked corn starch and small frequent meals with low glycemic index have been found to decrease the frequency of hypoglycemic episodes in IAS.
“Uncooked corn starch and small frequent meals with low glycemic index have been found to decrease the frequency of hypoglycemic episodes [76,77].”
From Non-Diabetic Hypoglycemia: Evaluation and Management in Adults (2025) · cites this paper as [77]
The Case Report says nocturnal glucose levels improved after the patient began taking cornstarch and that follow-up showed no further hypoglycemic episodes. The Discussion identifies uncooked cornstarch as the treatment, but does not report that small, frequent low-glycemic-index meals reduced episodes. It also notes that stopping health supplements may have contributed to the improvement. No page numbers were supplied for these passages. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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Cites
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Background
- Authors
- Deguchi, A., Okauchi, Y., Suehara, S., & Mineo, I.
- Affiliations
- Toyonaka Municipal Hospital (JP)
- ORCID
- Okauchi, Yukiyoshi
- Venue
- Internal Medicine
- Published
- 2013
- Volume
- 52
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 369-372
- ISSN
- 0918-2918 (ISSN-L)
- 1349-7235
- OpenAlex
- W2027793429
- Cited by
- 27
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2025: 3 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 2 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 2 · 2018: 3 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 2
- FWCI
- 1.32
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Internal Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Diabetes and associated disorders
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Adrenal Hormones and Disorders
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Diabetes Management and Research
- Keywords
- insulin autoimmune syndrome, hypoglycemia, dietary supplements, insulin antibodies, HLA-DR4, immunoreactive insulin, nocturnal hypoglycemia, older women
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Autoantibodies, Autoimmune Diseases, Female, Humans, Hypoglycemia, Insulin, Insulin Antibodies, Methionine, Starch, Syndrome, HLA-DR4 Antigen, Dietary Supplements, HLA-DRB1 Chains
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