Fenugreek Seeds

Ayurvedic medicine recommends that diabetic people have some soaked fenugreek seeds every morning.

Effect of fenugreek seeds on blood lipid peroxidation and antioxidants in diabetic rats.
Ravikumar P, Anuradha CV.
Source

Department of Biochemistry, Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu, India.
Abstract

The effect of fenugreek seeds (Trigonella foenum graecum) on blood lipid peroxidation and antioxidant status in alloxan diabetic rats was studied. Increased lipid peroxidation and alterations in circulating antioxidants were observed in the diabetic state. The levels of glutathione, ascorbic acid and beta-carotene in blood were significantly lowered and alpha-tocopherol content was increased. Supplementation of fenugreek seeds in the diet lowered lipid peroxidation. The contents of glutathione and beta-carotene were increased and the alpha-tocopherol content was lowered. The level of ascorbic acid was unaltered. The level of antioxidants were higher in normal rats which were fed with the fenugreek supplemented diet compared with control animals which were fed commercial rat chow. The study shows that disrupted free radical metabolism in diabetic animals may be normalized by fenugreek seed supplementation in the diet.

I've been researching that supplement recently. Below is a proposed method of action from a site that sells its own fenugreek supplement:

"the benefits are coming at least in part by the content of 4-Hydroxy Isoleucine found naturally in Fenugreek. 4-HI appears to have beneficial effects on insulin signaling and blood glucose regulation. It could be that Fenugreek is acting as a nutrient partitioning agent, causing the body to preferentially store carbohydrates as muscle glycogen and using insulin more effectively to potentiate protein synthesis instead of triglyceride storage in fat cells."

Many of the users report that it causes you to smell like maple syrup. They were using it in capsule form 500mg taken two or three times a day.