American Ginseng and Diabetes
American Ginseng Reduces Blood Sugar: Implications For
Diabetes And Herbal Research
Researchers at St. Michael’s Hospital and the
University of Toronto have found that taking American
ginseng before a meal reduces blood sugar in people
both with and without diabetes. The study appears in
the April 9 issue of the Archives of Internal
Medicine, a publication of the Journal of the American
Medical Association (JAMA).
Dr. Vladimir Vuksan, lead investigator for the study,
says that these findings may have important
implications for the treatment and prevention of
diabetes, a disease affecting approximately eight per
cent of North American adults and continually rising.
"Although preliminary, these findings are encouraging
and indicate that American ginseng’s potential role in
diabetes should be taken seriously and investigated
further. Controlling after-meal blood sugar levels is
recognized as a very important strategy in managing
diabetes. It may also be important in the prevention
of diabetes in those who have not yet developed the
disease."
Study participants, both diabetic (Type 2) and
non-diabetic, consumed capsules containing three grams
of ground Ontario-grown American ginseng either 40
minutes before or during a glucose test meal. Among
participants with Type 2 diabetes, those who took the
ginseng capsules experienced a 20 per cent reduction
in blood sugar levels compared to when they took
placebo capsules. Among non-diabetic participants,
similar reductions were only seen when the ginseng
capsules were taken before, not together, with the
test meal, suggesting that the timing of
administration may be important. (The trial was an
acute clinical study and did not compare the diabetic
participants to the non-diabetic participants.)
Although the results are encouraging, Vuksan, who
associate director of the Risk Factor Modification
Centre at St. Michael’s Hospital and assistant
professor in the department of nutritional sciences at
the University of Toronto, cautions that people should
not use these findings as justification to start
taking ginseng. "This is an initial, short-term study
that only indicates a need for more research. We don’t
know what the effects of long-term consumption of
ginseng will be. Because of poor standardization in
the herbal industry, we also don’t know if these
findings will hold true for all American ginseng
products. Nor do we know whether taking different
speciesof ginseng such as Chinese or Japanese will
have the same outcome."
In addition to implications for diabetes management,
this study has considerable significance for broader
research on herbals as potential medical treatments,
an area that has generated a great deal of public
controversy in recent years. "This study represents an
important step in the evaluation of herbals," says
Vuksan. "A major criticism of the herbal field and
past ginseng research has been the lack of scientific,
placebo-controlled trials in humans. Our study applied
traditional clinical trial standards to research on an
alternative medical product."
The use of herbals in North America has increased
dramatically over the last decade and ginseng is one
of the most widely-used herbs worldwide. There are
several types, including American, Chinese, Japanese
and Siberian. For the last 2000 years of Chinese
traditional medicine, ginseng has been used as a tonic
with supposed curative, restorative and aphrodisiac
properties. Most of these claims have been based on
anecdotal and other non-scientific observations. It is
only recently that tests of ginseng have begun in
humans, using rigorous scientific techniques.
Chai-Na-Ta, Langley B.C., the world’s largest supplier
of American ginseng, provided ginseng samples and,
together with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, the
funding for this study.
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Note: This story has been adapted from a news release
issued by University Of Toronto for journalists and
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