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   Dec 05

Chinese herbal medicine may help type 2 diabetes mellitus

(foodconsumer.org) — Taking a Chinese herbal medicine called Cyclocarya paliurus (CP) Batal. may help lower glucose, cholesterol and increase antioxidants in the blood in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients, a study in Journal of Ethnopharmacology suggests.

Q Wang from Jiangsu Province Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, PR China and colleagues conducted the study and found extracts of Cyclocarya paliurus leaves antihyperglycemic and antihypelipidemic in type 2 diabetic rats.

Cyclocarya paliurus (CP) Batal. is an herb tea only found in China, which has been traditionally used in Chinese medicine to treat diabetes mellitus and high cholesterol/triglycerides in China.

The current study was intended to evaluate the antihyperglycemic, antihyperlipidemic and antioxidant effects of two extracts of CP in rats with diabetes mellitus induced by high fat diet (HFD) and streptozotocin (STZ).

For the study, rats were fed a high fat and high sugar diet for six weeks and then exposed intraperitoneally to STZ in a dose of 30 mg/kg to induce type 2 diabetes mellitus. And rats were fed ethanol extract or aqueous extract in three doses, 2, 4 and 8 grams per kg body weight per day once a day for four weeks.

At the end of dietary intervention, both extracts of Cyclocarya paliurus increased oral glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity and high density lipoprotein cholesterol, superoxide dismutase , and glutathione peroxidase. The changes indicate that the supplementation is beneficial.

On the other hand, supplementation of either extract decreased free fatty acid, total cholesterol, triglycerides, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, malondialdehyde, blood urea nitrogen and creatinine and glycated serum protein. The changes are also desired.

The study concluded “The results suggested that CPEE (ethanol extract of Cyclocarya paliurus)and CPAE (acqueous extract of Cyclocarya paliurus ) exhibited the similar antihyperglycemic, antihyperlipidemic and antioxidant effects in type 2 diabetic rats, and there were no significant differences between these two extracts.”

Another study also published in the same journal but authored by another team of researchers shows that Sanguis draxonis can not only lower glucose but also alleviate dyslipidemia, tissue steatosis, and oxidative stress associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

For the study, rats were fed a high fat diet for four weeks and received a shot of streptozotocin to induce type 2 diabetes mellitus. And then the diabetic rats were treated with Sanguis draxonis or metformin in a dose of 200mg/kg for 21 days.

F. Chen from South-Central University for Nationalities in Wuhan, PR China and colleagues, authors of the study, found Sanguis draxonis significantly lowered serum glucose and cholesterol and triglycerides, and alleviated tissue steatosis and oxidative stress commonly seen in type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Additionally, the supplementation seemed also to protect pancreatic islets because of its antiinflammatory activity.

Sanguis draxonis (SD) is red resin of the wood of Dracaena cochinchinensis (Lour.) S. C. Chen (Dracaena cochinchinensis). It has been used to treat diabetes mellitus. (David Liu, PHD)

Source: food consumer.org

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