the effect of achillea millefolium a widely used plant in persian medicine on hemoglobin glycosylate and neuropathy symptoms in type 2 diabetic patients: a randomized clinical trial

Background: diabetic neuropathy is a prevalent microvascular complication that significantly impairs patients' quality of life. objective: this study examined the therapeutic effect of achillea millefolium oral supplementation on glycated hemoglobin (hba1c) levels and neuropathic symptoms in individuals suffering from type 2 diabetes. method: in a triple-blind randomized clinical trial, 70 patients with type 2 diabetes attending a diabetes clinic in rafsanjan were enrolled through convenience sampling and placed into intervention and placebo groups using the minimization technique. the patients in the intervention group received one capsule having 500 mg of aqueous extract of a. millefolium. they used the capsules daily for three months. the patients in the placebo group received identically appearing capsules filled with 500 mg of cellulose. outcomes were assessed with the michigan neuropathy screening instrument (mnsi) and hba1c testing, both administered at baseline and after the 3-month intervention period. the data were processed using spss-22 software. results: post-intervention analysis revealed a decrease in hba1c levels in the a. millefolium group in comparison with the placebo group, but no significant intergroup difference was observed (p = 0.17). however, the participants in the intervention group showed a significant improvement in neuropathy symptoms relative to the placebo group (p = 0.001). conclusions: the findings suggest that oral administration of achillea millefolium can effectively alleviate neuropathic symptoms in patients with type 2 diabetes. nevertheless, further clinical studies need to explore its potential effects on glycemic control.