Ginseng decreases blood glucose
Scientists have discovered an exciting new potential treatment of diabetes. They found that the popular herb ginseng lowers blood glucose levels, when used in conjunction with meals.
Although there is no medical evidence on their therapeutic efficacy, the use of herbs in medicine has increased considerably. Ginseng, one of the most popular herbs, over time, has come to be considered useful for controlling blood glucose in diabetic patients.
To test this hypothesis, researchers from St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, examined the effects of American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) in type 2 diabetics and nondiabetics. The study was conducted by Dr. Vladimir Vuksan, and the results were published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.
We studied 10 adult patients and 9 non-diabetic adult patients with type 2 diabetes. Each participant received a dose of 3 g ginseng 40 minutes before a test with 25 g of glucose orally, repeating the dose during the ingestion of glucose. On other occasions, participants received a placebo before and during glucose ingestion. After glucose ingestion, blood glucose was measured every 15 to 30 minutes, until the required 2 hours.
The results obtained in diabetic and nondiabetic patients were different. Among non-diabetics showed no differences in blood glucose with the ginseng and placebo, whether the ginseng was used in conjunction with meals, on the other hand, the use of ginseng in nondiabetics 40 minutes before meals led to a decrease of blood glucose levels.
In patients with type 2 diabetes was achieved approximately 20% decrease of glucose, whether the ginseng was used before or during the administration of glucose.
The authors argue that it would be premature to make recommendations on the use of ginseng based solely on this small study.
The results also suggest that people should just use ginseng on their own to prevent diabetes, it should be made until further research can rely on this finding.