D-pinitol is a natural relative of inositol found in soy, carob and legumes. It is sold for blood sugar and sometimes added to creatine products.
Also known as: D-pinitol, 3-O-methyl-D-chiro-inositol, soy pinitol.
Trials used 20 mg per kg a day for 28 days (Davis 2000), 1,000 mg twice a day for 6 weeks (Campbell 2004), and 1,200 mg a day added to diabetes tablets (Kim 2012). These are study protocols, not a recommendation.
It is sold in the US as a dietary supplement. Under the 1994 dietary supplement law (DSHEA), FDA does not approve dietary supplements before they are marketed, and the maker, not FDA, is responsible for safety and labeling.
What studies show: results are mixed. In 22 obese people with diet-treated type 2 diabetes or glucose intolerance, 4 weeks of pinitol raised blood pinitol 48-fold but did not change insulin sensitivity on a clamp test (Davis 2000). In 15 older adults without diabetes, it did not change glucose tolerance or insulin sensitivity (Campbell 2004). In 66 people with type 2 diabetes on tablets, adding 1,200 mg a day lowered HbA1c, fasting blood sugar and insulin resistance more than placebo, mainly in those with HbA1c over 8% (Kim 2012).
Safety: no toxicity was seen over 4 weeks (Davis 2000). People on diabetes medicines should ask their prescriber first. The sources here do not describe drug interactions.
We could not find a single published half-life or time to peak for pinitol that applies to a supplement dose, so we do not list one.
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