Vol. 7, Issue 3 (2018)

Author(s):
Dr. M Gandhi, Dr Tharageswari S, Abirami and Dr. S Swaminathan

Abstract:
Manganese (Mn) is an important trace metal for human health and it plays a significant role in metabolism and in antioxidant systems, diabetes mellitus (DM) and cardiac functions. Pre DM is said to develop when manganese level are at the lowest normal range. Regulation of Mn level at the optimum may prevent pre diabetes and diabetes. Oral Mn supplementation has emerged as the recent preventive measure for DM in whom deficiency of Mn exist. Many studies have been done in the laboratory animals on the beneficial effect of Mn supplementation mostly in the diabetic induced rats but there are lacunae on such studies in humans. While Mn deficiency affects carbohydrate metabolism, its excess affects many organs such as kidney, liver and central nervous system (CNS). Mn metabolic disturbances also leads to Parkinson’s Disease (PD. known as Manganism). This review article summaries the research findings during the last two decades on the role of Mn in the metabolic disturbances notably in carbohydrate metabolic regulation as well as in other organ specific functions. The contents of this review article will help future researchers to undertake more work on the role of Mn in human health. Large scale studies involving humans on supplementation studies will enable to fix an optimum level of Mn consumption for treating patients found to have low Mn level.