I'm very much interested in treating illnesses with supplements and herbs so I was surprised by this. I went to my favorite website and looked it up from their extensive database but it wasn't listed. The amazing thing though is that I stumbled upon something I have heard of but had forgotten about
: bitter melon.
Quote:
Clinical Summary
Bitter melon is a perennial plant that grows in the tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, South America, East Africa, and the Caribbean. It is used both as food and in medicine to treat diabetes, cancer, viral infections, and immune disorders. The nutritional value of bitter melon is due to its high mineral and vitamin content, whereas its bitterness is attributed to the presence of alkaloids, momordicosides, and momordicines.
In vitro and animal studies indicate anticancer, antiviral, and lipid lowering effects. Bitter melon was also shown to exert hypoglycemic effects in both healthy and diabetic patients , but further studies are required to recommend its use.
Bitter melon can have additive effects when combined with insulin or oral hypoglycemic agents.
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It turns out that it is one of the treatments of choice in Asia for type II diabetics so that sounds promising. In a study where they compared it to metformin, it had a less powerful effect but it did have hypoglycemic effects. The optimum dose for the melon was 2000 mg. Oh heck, here's the link to the article:
Bitter Melon | Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center There are studies listed at the bottom and some of my info came from those.
But, I'm co-opting your thread and as far as I know mulberry is not one of the more commonly used plants for diabetes in Asia. The ones that are: Coccinia indica, Azadirachta indica, Trigonella foenum-graecum, Syzygium cumini, Terminalia chebula, Ficus racemosa, Momordica charantia, Swietenia mahagoni. (Mulberry is morus nigra.)
Bottom line though is that I wouldn't try any of this stuff while on meds b/c you could lower your glucose too much. Also, you want to be sure you're doing everything you can with diet and exercise.
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