Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine Slows The Progression of Diabetes

A team of Chinese researchers says traditional Chinese herbal medicine slow the progress of diabetes.

A team of researchers discovered that a mixture of traditional Chinese herb called Tianqi, holds promise in slowing the progression of prediabetes to type 2 diabetes. Tianqi, a mixture of several herbs, lowers the blood glucose levels.

A person is diagnosed with prediabetes when the blood sugar levels show slight increase. But these individuals suffer from an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes as well as other chronic diseases like heart diseases and stroke.

Data according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that nearly 79 million American adults over the age of 20 are prediabetic.

"With diabetes evolving into a serious public health burden worldwide, it is crucial to take steps to stem the flood of cases," said one of the study's authors, Chun-Su Yuan, MD, PhD, of the University of Chicago. "Patients often struggle to make the necessary lifestyle changes to control blood sugar levels, and current medications have limitations and can have adverse gastrointestinal side effects. Traditional Chinese herbs may offer a new option for managing blood sugar levels, either alone or in combination with other treatments."

The effect of the herb in slowing the progress of diabetes was evaluated through a double-blind placebo controlled trial. A study was conducted on 389 participants from 11 different research sites in China. The subjects were randomly given either a capsule that had a mix of 10 different herbal medicines or a placebo.

The subjects were asked to take the medicines three times a day before meals for almost 12 months. One month of lifestyle education was provided to the subjects at the beginning of the study and during the course of the study they were introduced to nutritionists. The subjects' glucose tolerance was tested on a quarterly basis.

At the end of the experiment nearly 36 participants taking Tianqi developed diabetes compared to  56 subjects from  the placebo group. Based on the analysis, the researchers claim that the risk of diabetes dropped by 32.1 percent on taking Tianqi when compared to the placebo. The subjects reported a few side effects after taking Tianqi.

"Few controlled clinical trials have examined traditional Chinese medicine's impact on diabetes, and the findings from our study showed this approach can be very useful in slowing the disease's progression," said one of the study's lead authors, Xiaolin Tong, MD, PhD, of Guang'anmen Hospital in Beijing, China, said. "More research is needed to evaluate the role Chinese herbal medicine can play in preventing and controlling diabetes."

Prior to this, a study conducted by researchers at Peking University proved that conventional drugs are more effective than the traditional Chinese medicine to treat type 2 diabetes.

The study was reported in the Journal Clinical Endocrinology &Metabolism (JCEM).