Quinoa Improves Glycolipid Metabolism and Glucose Fluctuation Based on β-Cell Function in Early-stage Type 2 Diabetes (QIGMAGFBOβFIET)

December 28, 2025 updated by: kuanxiao Tang, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University

The goal of this clinical trial is to explore whether quinoa diet can improve glycolipid metabolism and glucose fluctuations in patients with early-stage type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and observe its impact on islet β-cell function and insulin resistance in patients with early-stage T2DM (diagnosed according to the 1999 WHO criteria, disease duration <5 years, HbA1c 6.5%-10%, no history of insulin therapy, aged 20-70 years).

The main question it aims to answer is:

Can quinoa diet reduce blood glucose (fasting blood glucose, postprandial blood glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin), improve lipid metabolism (cholesterol, triglycerides), and stabilize glucose fluctuations (time in range, time above range) in patients with early-stage T2DM? Does quinoa diet improve islet β-cell function (HOMA-β) and insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), and reduce the need for oral hypoglycemic medications? Comparison group: Researchers will compare the quinoa diet (QD) group (replacing traditional starchy foods with quinoa products) vs. the regular diet (RD) group (conventional diet) to see if quinoa diet demonstrates better metabolic improvement and medication reduction effects.

Participants will:

Be randomly assigned to the QD group or RD group. Undergo oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTTs) and continuous glucose monitoring (cGMS) at baseline and after the intervention.

The QD group will consume quinoa-based foods (noodles, blended powder, cookies) as substitutes for staple foods, beverages, and snacks for 14 weeks, documenting daily intake in a record book.

Both groups will receive standardized dietary and exercise education, with monthly follow-ups for food distribution and data collection.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

60

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

    • Shandong
      • Jinan, Shandong, China, 250000
        • Recruiting
        • Qilu Hospital of Shandong University
        • Contact:

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

patients diagnosed according to the 1999 WHO diagnostic criteria for T2DM with a duration of less than 5 years HbA1c levels between 6.5% and 10% no history of insulin therapy age between 20 and 70 years. Exclusion Criteria: acute complications of diabetes, such as diabetic ketoacidosis severe acute or chronic conditions affecting the liver, kidneys, heart, cerebrovascular system, gastrointestinal tract, or acute infectious diseases pregnancy or plans for pregnancy soon allergies to quinoa or bean products participation in other dietary interventions or drug clinical trials within the past three months gastrointestinal diseases within two weeks prior to enrolment.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: the quinoa diet (QD) group
The QD group replaced part of their staple foods with quinoa noodles, mixed flour, and biscuits. The intervention lasted for 14 weeks. Regular monitoring of indicators such as blood sugar, blood lipids, insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), and β-cell function (HOMA-β) was conducted, and the use of medications was recorded.
Quinoa-based foods included three varieties: quinoa noodles (80 g per bag; the ingredients included quinoa powder, red bean powder, black wheat powder, black mung bean powder, and edible salt, with quinoa powder comprising 15% of the total produced by Shandong Tangren Duoyi Biotechnology Company), blended powder (15 g per bag; the ingredients included quinoa, rye wheat, black mung beans, adzuki beans, black sesame seeds, chickpeas, konjac flour, and mogroside, with quinoa flour comprising 20% of the total produced by Shandong Tangren Duoyi Biotechnology Company), and cookies (24 g per bag; quinoa, rye, adzuki beans, black sesame seeds, vegetable oil, and salt, with quinoa comprising 20% of the total produced by Shandong Tangren Duoyi Biotechnology Company). These products serve as substitutes for the common starchy staples, soups, porridge, and snacks typically consumed by T2DM patients. This substitution did not alter patients' daily eating habits; rather, it simply replaced tradition
No Intervention: the regular diet (RD) group

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Glucose variability (MAGE) assessed by continuous glucose monitoring
Time Frame: From registration to the end of the 14-week treatment
Change from baseline to week 14 in Mean Amplitude of Glycemic Excursions (MAGE) calculated from 72-hour continuous glucose monitoring data.
From registration to the end of the 14-week treatment

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

January 10, 2021

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 30, 2025

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 30, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 1, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 28, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

January 9, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 9, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 28, 2025

Last Verified

December 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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