Miglitol
Miglitol is an oral diabetes medicine that helps lower blood sugar after meals in adults with type 2 diabetes.
🧬 Where this information comes from Click to expand
The clinical label records used on this page are FDA-filed Structured Product Labeling (SPL) retrieved through openFDA. We identified 3 clinical label sets within the page’s selected clinical scope after exact ingredient or ingredient-combination matching and applicable route/form matching. Forms, routes, brands, labelers, strengths, and NDC product-record counts are built separately from matching FDA National Drug Code Directory records. The linked DailyMed document is a representative official source for verification, not the page’s only clinical source. View the linked label on DailyMed →
Miglitol (Glyset) is an older type 2 diabetes medicine, available generically, that slows carbohydrate digestion in the gut so blood sugar spikes less after meals, without pushing your body to release more insulin; it is usually an add-on, not a first choice. Gas, bloating and diarrhea are what most people notice, and they usually ease when the dose is raised slowly. Call your prescriber for severe or lasting stomach pain, bloating or constipation, or diarrhea with mucus or rectal bleeding, which are signs of rare but serious bowel problems. On its own it does not cause low blood sugar, but with a sulfonylurea such as glyburide, another diabetes medicine, it can.
Clinical pearls
- Take each dose with the first bite of a main meal, and skip that dose if you skip the meal.
- Treat low blood sugar with glucose tablets or gel, not table sugar, because miglitol slows how sugar is broken down.
- Avoid activated charcoal and digestive enzyme products containing amylase or pancreatin, which can blunt miglitol's effect.
- It can lower blood iron on lab tests and may reduce propranolol absorption, so tell your other prescribers you take it.
Patient information guide A plain-language walkthrough of Miglitol, written from its FDA label.
What Miglitol is used for
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Miglitol is used for one main purpose.
- Miglitol tablets (oral) are used with diet and exercise to improve blood sugar control in adults with type 2 diabetes.
How Miglitol works
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Miglitol blocks enzymes in the lining of your small intestine that break down complex carbohydrates into sugar. This delays sugar absorption. The result is a smaller blood sugar rise after meals.
It does not boost insulin release. That is why its effect adds to that of sulfonylureas when they are used together.
Miglitol dosage
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Miglitol tablets are taken by mouth three times a day, right at the start of each main meal. Treatment usually starts low and is raised gradually to limit stomach side effects.
- Your doctor may check blood sugar after meals and A1C about every 3 months.
- The goal is the lowest dose that works for you.
- Follow your prescriber's directions and the pharmacy label.
Dosing details from the FDA-approved label
From the Miglitol prescribing information (“Dosage and Administration”). Doses are set by your prescriber for your product, condition, kidney function and age — never change a dose on your own.
- Initial dosage (management of diabetes mellitus)
- 25 mg, given orally three times daily at the start of each main meal
- Some patients may benefit by starting at 25 mg once daily to minimize gastrointestinal adverse effects, and gradually increasing the frequency of administration to 3 times daily
- Maximum: 100 mg 3 times daily
- Dosage is individualized on the basis of effectiveness and tolerance; gradually increased to reduce gastrointestinal adverse effects
- Maintenance dosage
- Usual maintenance dose is 50 mg taken 3 times daily
- Some patients may benefit from increasing to 100 mg 3 times daily
- After 4 to 8 weeks of 25 mg 3 times daily, increase to 50 mg 3 times daily for approximately three months, then measure glycosylated hemoglobin
- If not satisfactory, may increase to 100 mg 3 times daily
- Maximum: 100 mg 3 times daily
- If no further reduction in postprandial glucose or glycosylated hemoglobin is seen at 100 mg 3 times daily, consider lowering the dose
- Patients receiving sulfonylureas
- Miglitol tablets may be given in combination with a sulfonylurea
- If hypoglycemia occurs, make appropriate adjustments in the dosage of these agents
- Maximum: 100 mg 3 times daily
- Combination causes further lowering of blood glucose and may increase the risk of hypoglycemia due to additive effects
Read the label’s full dosing text
DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION There is no fixed dosage regimen for the management of diabetes mellitus with miglitol tablets or any other pharmacologic agent. Dosage of miglitol tablets must be individualized on the basis of both effectiveness and tolerance while not exceeding the maximum recommended dosage of 100 mg 3 times daily. Miglitol tablets should be taken three times daily at the start of each main meal. Miglitol tablets should be started at 25 mg, and the dosage gradually increased both to reduce gastrointestinal adverse effects and to permit identification of the minimum dose required for adequate glycemic control of the patient. During treatment initiation and dose titration, one-hour postprandial plasma glucose may be used to determine the therapeutic response to miglitol tablets and identify the minimum effective dose for the patient. Thereafter, glycosylated hemoglobin should be measured at intervals of approximately 3 months. The therapeutic goal should be to decrease both postprandial plasma glucose and glycosylated hemoglobin levels to normal or near normal by using the lowest effective dose of miglitol tablets, either as monotherapy or in combination with a sulfonylurea. Initial Dosage The recommended starting dosage of miglitol tablets is 25 mg, given orally three times daily at the start of each main meal. However, some patients may benefit by starting at 25 mg once daily to minimize gastrointestinal adverse effects, and gradually increasing the frequency of administration to 3 times daily. Maintenance Dosage The usual maintenance dose of miglitol tablets is 50 mg taken 3 times daily, although some patients may benefit from increasing the dose to 100 mg 3 times daily. To allow adaptation to potential gastrointestinal adverse effects, it is recommended that miglitol tablets therapy be initiated at a dosage of 25 mg 3 times daily, then gradually titrated upward to allow adaptation. After 4 to 8 weeks of the 25 mg 3 times daily regimen, the dosage should be increased to 50 mg 3 times daily for approximately three months, following which a glycosylated hemoglobin level should be measured to assess therapeutic response. If at that time, the glycosylated hemoglobin level is not satisfactory, the dosage may be further increased to 100 mg 3 times daily, the maximum recommended dosage.
Excerpted — the section continues on the label. Read the full Dosage and Administration section on DailyMed →
Miglitol side effects
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Stomach and bowel effects are the most common.
Common side effects
- Gas (flatulence)
- Diarrhea
- Stomach pain
- Skin rash
- Low blood iron levels on lab tests
- Nausea
- Bloating
When to get medical help
- Call your doctor if you have severe or lasting stomach pain, bloating, or constipation, which could signal a bowel blockage or ileus (a bowel that stops moving).
- Call your doctor if you have diarrhea with mucus, rectal bleeding, or constipation, which can be signs of a rare bowel condition called pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis.
- Call your doctor if you develop a rash that does not go away or gets worse.
- If you take a sulfonylurea too, tell your doctor about any low blood sugar symptoms so doses can be adjusted.
Diarrhea and stomach pain tend to ease with continued treatment. Call your doctor about severe stomach symptoms, rectal bleeding, or a rash that persists.
Miglitol warnings and precautions
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- Bowel problems are the main risk. Rare cases of ileus and pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis have been reported.
- If pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis is suspected, miglitol should be stopped and imaging done.
- With a sulfonylurea, low blood sugar risk can rise, and doses may need adjusting.
Miglitol interactions
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Some medicines and products can change how miglitol works or how well other drugs are absorbed.
- Sulfonylureas: additive blood sugar lowering and possible low blood sugar.
- Charcoal: may reduce miglitol's effect.
- Digestive enzymes (amylase, pancreatin): may reduce miglitol's effect.
- Ranitidine and propranolol: absorption may be lowered.
- Digoxin: levels were lower in healthy volunteers but not in diabetic patients.
- Antacids did not change miglitol levels.
Interactions listed in the FDA-approved label
From the Miglitol prescribing information (“Drug Interactions”): what the manufacturer studied or reported to the FDA.
- Glyburide: Glyburide mean Cmax and AUC were 17% and 25% lower in healthy volunteers given miglitol; other studies showed lower but not statistically significant values (AUC 18% lower; Cmax 16% and 8% lower). No definitive statement regarding a potential interaction can be made based on the three studies.
- Metformin: Mean AUC and Cmax values for metformin were 12% to 13% lower with miglitol compared with placebo, not statistically significant.
- Digoxin: In healthy volunteers, miglitol 50 mg or 100 mg 3 times daily reduced average plasma digoxin concentrations by 19% and 28%, respectively; in diabetic patients on digoxin, plasma concentrations were not altered by miglitol 100 mg 3 times daily for 14 days.
- Ranitidine: Miglitol may significantly reduce the bioavailability of ranitidine by 60% in healthy volunteer studies.
- Propranolol: Miglitol may significantly reduce the bioavailability of propranolol by 40% in healthy volunteer studies.
- Warfarin: No effect of miglitol was observed on the pharmacokinetics or pharmacodynamics of warfarin.
- Nifedipine: No effect of miglitol was observed on the pharmacokinetics or pharmacodynamics of nifedipine.
- Intestinal adsorbents (e.g., charcoal): May reduce the effect of miglitol tablets. Should not be taken concomitantly.
- Digestive enzyme preparations containing carbohydrate-splitting enzymes (e.g., amylase, pancreatin): May reduce the effect of miglitol tablets. Should not be taken concomitantly.
- Antacid: In 12 healthy males, concomitantly administered antacid did not influence the pharmacokinetics of miglitol.
Read the label’s full interactions text
Drug Interactions Several studies investigated the possible interaction between miglitol and glyburide. In six healthy volunteers given a single dose of 5 mg glyburide on a background of 6 days treatment with miglitol (50 mg 3 times daily for 4 days followed by 100 mg 3 times daily for 2 days) or placebo, the mean C max and AUC values for glyburide were 17% and 25% lower, respectively, when glyburide was given with miglitol. In a study in diabetic patients in which the effects of adding miglitol 100 mg 3 times daily for 7 days or placebo to a background regimen of 3.5 mg glyburide daily were investigated, the mean AUC value for glyburide was 18% lower in the group treated with miglitol, although this difference was not statistically significant. Information on a potential interaction with glyburide was obtained from one of the large U.S. clinical trials (Study 7) in which patients were dosed with either miglitol or placebo on a background of glyburide 10 mg twice daily. At the 6-month and 1-year clinic visits, patients taking concomitant miglitol 100 mg 3 times daily exhibited mean C max values for glyburide that were 16% and 8% lower, respectively, compared to patients taking glyburide alone. However, these differences were not statistically significant. Thus, although there was a trend toward lower AUC and C max values for glyburide when co-administered with miglitol tablets, no definitive statement regarding a potential interaction can be made based on the foregoing three studies. The effect of miglitol (100 mg 3 times daily for 7 days) on the pharmacokinetics of a single 1000 mg dose of metformin was investigated in healthy volunteers. Mean AUC and C max values for metformin were 12% to 13% lower when the volunteers were given miglitol as compared with placebo, but this difference was not statistically significant.
Excerpted — the section continues on the label. Read the full Drug Interactions section on DailyMed →
Not a complete list. The label covers the interactions the manufacturer studied or reported, and our own interaction database does not cover every medicine either. Bring your full medication list, including vitamins and herbal products, to your pharmacist.
Before taking Miglitol
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- Diabetic ketoacidosis
- Inflammatory bowel disease, colonic ulceration, or partial bowel obstruction
- Chronic bowel disease affecting digestion or absorption
- Allergy to miglitol or its ingredients
Miglitol overdose
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Unlike insulin or sulfonylureas, a miglitol overdose does not cause low blood sugar. It may cause temporary increases in gas, diarrhea, and stomach discomfort. No serious body-wide reactions are expected.
What Miglitol does in the body
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Miglitol delays carbohydrate digestion, so blood sugar rises less after meals. Over time this lowers glycosylated hemoglobin (A1C), a measure of average blood sugar. At recommended doses it is not expected to cause lactose intolerance.
How your body processes Miglitol
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Absorption is complete at low doses but only partial at high doses. Peak levels occur 2 to 3 hours after a dose. Its blood sugar effect does not depend on the amount absorbed into the body, since it works in the intestine.
How to store Miglitol
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Store at 25°C (77°F); excursions permitted to 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F) .
Written from the FDA-approved label with AI and reviewed by our pharmacy team. How we use AI →
Supplements & herbs that interact with Miglitol
256 supplements and herbal products have documented interactions with Miglitol in the licensed clinical database we use. Most are manageable — but your pharmacist should know about everything you take, including vitamins and herbals.
- Major · 2
- Moderate · 215
- Minor · 39
Educational information from a licensed clinical database (Natural Medicines) — see our data sources & update cadence. Not medical advice: an interaction being documented does not mean it will happen to you; do not start or stop medications or supplements without professional guidance.
Nutrient depletion considerations
Miglitol has been associated with lower levels of 1 nutrient in the clinical literature. This does not mean a deficiency will occur — it means these may be worth discussing with your pharmacist or healthcare provider, especially with long-term use.
Educational information from a licensed clinical database (Natural Medicines) — not medical advice. Do not start or stop medications or supplements without professional guidance.
Miglitol: pharmacist answers to common questions
Quick, plain-English answers to the questions patients ask most about Miglitol — the kind of thing our pharmacy team would talk through with you at the counter.
What is miglitol for?
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When should I take it?
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Will it upset my stomach?
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Can it cause low blood sugar?
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Who shouldn't take miglitol?
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Are there products I should avoid with it?
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Is Miglitol available over the counter?
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When was Miglitol first available?
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Who makes Miglitol?
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Answers drafted from the FDA-approved label with AI and reviewed by our pharmacy team. How we use AI →
More about Miglitol on HelloPharmacist
Miglitol forms and strengths (how it comes)
Miglitol is available in 1 form. Different forms and brands can have different approved uses, doses, schedules, and directions. Follow the instructions for your exact product, and do not switch forms without guidance from your prescriber or pharmacist.
Tablet
How this form is used
- Miglitol tablets are used with diet and exercise to improve blood sugar control in adults with type 2 diabetes.
- Miglitol tablets are taken by mouth three times daily at the start of each main meal.
- Miglitol tablets are usually started low and increased slowly to ease stomach side effects.
- Miglitol tablets can be used alone or with a sulfonylurea, as directed by your prescriber.
Miglitol on the U.S. market: products, makers and brands
How Miglitol appears in the FDA’s National Drug Code Directory — including its dosage forms, strengths, brand names, manufacturers, and FDA-listed product records. These are directory records, not sales or prescription volume.
2 companies list 6 Miglitol product records with the FDA, mostly as tablet; the earliest marketing or approval year on record is 1996. Brand names on the directory include Glyset; the rest are generics.
Also listed with the FDA, not a patient dose form: Powder (1) — bulk drug substance sold to compounders/manufacturers and multi-item kits. These aren’t counted in the dose-form total above.
Share of FDA-listed product records by manufacturer — FDA National Drug Code Directory. Record counts are not sales or prescription volume.
How widely Miglitol is used (Medicaid data)
A general measure of how commonly Miglitol is prescribed, based on Medicaid — one of the largest public drug programs. The figure below is prescriptions filled in Q1–Q4 2025, summed across every form and brand of the drug.
Think of this as a proxy for how widely Miglitol is used, drawn from freely available public data. Medicaid is just one program — these numbers don’t include Medicare, other government coverage, or commercial and cash-pay prescriptions, so real-world use is higher than what’s shown here.
How commonly is Miglitol prescribed? Of the 1,601 medications we measure, Miglitol ranks #1,540 by Medicaid prescriptions — more than 4% of them.
Utilization by Miglitol product
Pick a product to see its own Medicaid numbers. Each chip is one clinical product — a specific strength & dosage form as defined by RxNorm — with brand-name and generic versions combined.
miglitol 25 MG Oral Tablet
Summed across the 1 of 8 listed NDC products with Medicaid activity — every brand and generic of this exact strength & form. RxNorm 205329
Shares are of the Medicaid prescriptions shown here. Product grouping follows RxNorm (the National Library of Medicine’s drug terminology), so “one product” means one strength & dosage form regardless of manufacturer. Dollar figures are gross Medicaid reimbursement before mandatory rebates — rebates (often large, especially for brand-name drugs) are confidential, so actual net cost to Medicaid is lower than shown.
Source: Medicaid State Drug Utilization Data (CMS), aggregated by generic ingredient — summed across every NDC (all brands, strengths, salt forms and dosage forms) of Miglitol, and across all states and both fee-for-service and managed-care claims. A general popularity signal; it excludes Medicare, commercial insurance and cash prescriptions, so it is not total U.S. use. Based on the 1 of 8 listed Miglitol NDCs with Medicaid activity.
Compare Miglitol products
A representative set of FDA-listed product records for Miglitol — across manufacturers, strengths, and dosage forms, grouped by form with each product’s manufacturer and how the FDA approved it. The same medicine may be made and packaged by different companies, so a single drug can have many directory entries. (It’s also why a refill can look different — a new shape, color, or box — even though it contains the same medication.)
| Strength | Route | Manufacturer / Labeler | Category ⓘ | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 💊Tablet | ||||
| 25 mg | Oral | Proficient Rx LP | ANDA | View NDC → |
| 50 mg | Oral | Proficient Rx LP | ANDA | View NDC → |
| 100 mg | Oral | Proficient Rx LP | ANDA | View NDC → |
| 25 mg | Oral | Westminster Pharmaceuticals, LLC | ANDA | View NDC → |
| 50 mg | Oral | Westminster Pharmaceuticals, LLC | ANDA | View NDC → |
| 100 mg | Oral | Westminster Pharmaceuticals, LLC | ANDA | View NDC → |
Showing 6 of 6 products — FDA National Drug Code Directory. See every product, package size and price: browse all 6 Miglitol NDCs →
Miglitol side effects reported to the FDA (FAERS)
After a medicine reaches the market, patients, doctors and drugmakers can send the FDA reports of problems they think may be linked to it. Here’s what’s been reported for Miglitol — a signal of what to watch for, not proof the drug caused it.
Source: openFDA, from the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS). These are voluntary reports — they don’t prove the drug caused the effect, and counts reflect how often something was reported, not how often it actually happens. Reports also often name the very problem the medicine is taken for — a common reason to file one is that the drug didn’t help — so for a pain reliever you may see “pain” high on the list; that points to why the report was filed, not to the drug causing the symptom. This counts every report that lists Miglitol in any role, so the total runs higher than the FDA’s official dashboard, which counts only cases where the drug is the suspect. For the authoritative figures, see the FDA FAERS Public Dashboard. Always talk to your pharmacist or doctor.
Miglitol FDA approval history
How Miglitol went from FDA review to the pharmacy shelf — the key milestones in its regulatory journey.
Source: Drugs@FDA.
Miglitol recall history
A recall is when a specific batch of a medicine is pulled from the market — usually a manufacturing issue, not a problem with the drug itself. Class I is most serious, Class III least.
The FDA’s enforcement reports list no Miglitol recalls since July 2021.
✅No Miglitol recalls on record since July 2021Source: FDA enforcement (recall) reports, via openFDA; our copy was last updated Sep 24, 2026.
RxNorm Concept Web — From Ingredient to Every Form and Strength
This page starts with one ingredient concept (IN). The branches below show its dose-form concepts (SCDF), then the available clinical drug and strength concepts (SCD). Combination products remain separate concepts with their own pages.
RxCUI 30009 1 dose form · 3 strengths
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Dose form (SCDF) Oral Tablet RxCUI 372926In current FDA listings
Look up RxCUI 30009 in the RxCUI Atlas →
RxNorm is the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s normalized drug vocabulary. Its concept hierarchy can include forms that are not currently marketed; the status on each branch compares that concept with current FDA listings. RxCUIs identify vocabulary concepts, not individual packages or manufacturers.
Miglitol supply and shortage status
Whether Miglitol is in short supply in the U.S. right now, plus any shortage history the FDA has on record. A shortage usually reflects a manufacturing or demand issue — not a safety problem with the drug.
Source: openFDA, from the FDA Drug Shortages database.
💵 What Miglitol costs pharmacies (NADAC benchmark)
The national average invoice price pharmacies pay for the drug itself, from CMS's NADAC survey (data as of May 13, 2026). This is a supply-cost benchmark — not a retail price and not what you'd pay at the counter.
| Form | Strength | Pharmacy acquisition benchmark | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tablet, Coated · Oral | 25 mg | $1.75 per tablet | NDC details & price history |
| Tablet, Coated · Oral | 50 mg | $1.76 per tablet | NDC details & price history |
Source: CMS National Average Drug Acquisition Cost (NADAC), a survey of retail pharmacy invoice prices. Benchmarks shown are the range across package sizes of a representative product for each form and strength — other manufacturers' products may differ.
Miglitol brand names
Miglitol is sold under one brand name in the FDA directory — Glyset. A brand and its generic contain the same active ingredient; the brand name belongs to one company's product.
Who makes Miglitol: manufacturers and labelers
2 companies list Miglitol products with the FDA. By number of product records, the largest are Proficient Rx LP, Westminster Pharmaceuticals, LLC. Labelers include manufacturers and repackagers; the product in your bottle depends on which one your pharmacy stocks.
Miglitol drug class (RxNorm)
Miglitol belongs to the alpha-Glucosidase Inhibitor class.
Classified by RxNorm RxClass — the U.S. National Library of Medicine's standardized drug-classification service (Established Pharmacologic Class from the FDA, the ATC drug family from the WHO, and mechanism of action). Reference only, not medical advice.
Sources for this Miglitol page
Core label, product, RxNorm, safety, and utilization data on this page come from the sources identified below. AI-written, editorial, and licensed sections are labeled separately.
How this page is built
HelloPharmacist combines public FDA and NLM records and does not author the underlying clinical facts. The plain-language sections are written with AI from the FDA-approved label text and reviewed by our pharmacy team before publication. Proficient Rx LP is the representative DailyMed label linked for verification and dates. This is general education, not medical advice: always talk to your doctor or pharmacist about your own medicines. How we build and review drug pages →