The number of people in the United States affected by type 2 diabetes has increased dramatically in recent years, making the need for effective diabetes treatments more urgent than ever. Now researchers are reaching back in time, to a plant with a long history of medicinal use in India, to battle the modern day diabetes epidemic.

Gymnema sylvestre is a climbing, vine-like plant that has been used in India for centuries to treat diabetes. To put the ancient herbal medicine to the test, researchers conducted a two-part study. Part one involved testing the effects of a gymnema supplement on 11 people with pre-existing or newly diagnosed diabetes. Part two looked at gymnema’s effects of on human islet cells in a laboratory. Islet cells are found in the pancreas and are responsible for secreting insulin, the hormone that the body uses to move sugar from blood into cells for energy.  Read More . . .

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