Indian Herb May Help To Reduce High Blood Sugars

An herb long-used in traditional Indian medicine
may help people with diabetes control their blood
sugar, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that the herb, called Salacia
oblonga, reduced post-meal blood sugar surges in
66 men and women with type 2 diabetes.

Also known as Saptrangi and Ponkoranti, S. oblonga
is from a native shrub plant found in the forests
of India and Sri Lanka. The roots and stems of the
herb are used in Ayurvedic and traditional Indian
medicine to treat obesity and diabetes.

The findings, reported in the American Journal of
Clinical Nutrition, support the results of earlier
work that looked at S. oblonga's blood sugar effects
in people without diabetes. And the result suggests
that the herb could be used along with diet, exercise
and medication to help manage type 2 diabetes,
according to the study authors.

The researchers, led by Jennifer A. Williams, are
with Columbus, Ohio-based Abbott Laboratories,
which has funded previous research on the herb.

For the study, Williams and her colleagues asked
participants to drink a high-carbohydrate liquid
meal replacement on three separate occasions.
On one day they had the meal alone and on another
two days they consumed the drink along with a dose
of S. oblonga extract, either 240 mg or 480 mg.

On average, the study found, the lower S. oblonga
dose decreased participants' peak blood sugar
response by 19 percent, while the higher dose
lowered it by 27 percent. Both doses also tempered
the normal post-meal increase in insulin, a hormone
that regulates blood sugar.

The S. oblonga plant grows in limited areas of Asia
and is not widely known in the U.S. Extracts are
used in Japan, however, as an ingredient in foods
and supplements intended to manage diabetes and obesity.

The herb is thought to work similarly to oral diabetes
drugs called alpha-glucosidase inhibitors, which
impede the body's absorption of carbohydrates.

S. oblonga, and other substances like it, could be
"ideal" nutritional therapies for diabetes, Williams
and her colleagues write. People often find it tough
to stick with diet restrictions, the researchers note,
and a supplement like S. oblonga could allow diabetics
to eat a carbohydrate-rich meal without an overly
high blood sugar response.

Studies should now look at the herb's effects on blood
sugar control over the long-term, the researchers
conclude.

This herb will be available next month in a
diabetic supplement developed Dr. Robert O. Young
with several other new herbs that neutralizes the
acidic sugars - thus lowering post-meal blood sugars.

You can also read how 83% of Type I diabetics and
96% of Type II diabetics control their blood
sugars without medications, in our book,
The pH Miracle for Diabetes.

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SOURCE:
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, July 2007.
© Reuters 2007.