Trehalose is a natural sugar that stabilizes proteins and switches on the cell's recycling machinery in the laboratory, but the gut splits swallowed trehalose into ordinary glucose before most of it acts. As eye drops it reliably improves dry eye. Small oral doses raise blood sugar more gently than table sugar. The evidence is thin and conflicted. (Full Review)
| Marker | Target | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Fasting glucose | 75–85 mg/dL | Detects whether the added sugar load is worsening baseline glycemia |
| 2-hour post-load glucose | Below 120 mg/dL | The endpoint that improved in the human trials; the primary efficacy measure |
| Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) | 4.8–5.3% | Confirms that short-term glucose changes translate into an average benefit, not just a shifted curve |
| Triglycerides | Below 80 mg/dL | Rises early when surplus carbohydrate is being converted to fat |
| Body weight and waist circumference | Stable within 1 kg of baseline | The most sensitive early sign that trehalose is being added rather than substituted |
| High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) | Below 1.0 mg/L | General inflammation marker; the vascular trial found no change, so a rise argues against continuing |
| Dry eye symptom score | Improvement of 8 points or more | Tracks the one benefit with high-quality evidence, for topical users |
Cadence: Weight weekly during titration, then the full metabolic panel at 12 weeks and, where intake continues, every 6 months thereafter