Herbal Remedies For Diabetes
I have been seeing so much about diabetes and herbal diets that I thought I should check it out. Nothing against the fine folks saying fine things about it, but I take just about everything with a grain of salt.
The first thing I did was to go to the American Diabetes Association site to see if they had anything to say on the subject. Under their frequently asked questions about nutrition section, I found the following:
“Many herbs supposedly have glucose-lowering effects, but there are not enough data on any herb to recommend it for use in people with diabetes. Herbs are not considered food by the Food and Drug Administration and are not tested for quality or content. Therefore, products can be promoted as helping health conditions without having to show evidence of this.
Promotes healthy and clear eyes, plus circulatory health
Helps maintain healthy blood sugar levels and promotes pancreatic health
Helps maintain blood pressure already within normal range, plus promotes complete cardiovascular health
I have a confession to make. I have to take a certain medicine. In fact, I will have to take that medicine for the rest of my life. Unfortunately, there is also a certain fruit I love. Eating that particular fruit was one of the joys of my life. Getting directly to the point, the juice from the fruit negates the effectiveness of the medicine. As much as I love that fruit, though, I would like to live long enough to spoil some grandchildren.
From the Department of Complementary Medicine, Peninsula Medical School, Universities of Exeter and Plymouth, UK, I extracted the supplement of a paper entitled Adverse events of herbal food supplements for body weight reduction: systematic review, by M. H. Pittler, K. Schmidt, and E. Ernst, and it states as follows:
“In conclusion, adverse events are reported for a number of herbal food supplements, which are used for reducing body weight. Although the quality of the data does not justify definitive attribution of causality in most cases, the reported risks are sufficient to shift the risk-benefit balance against the use of most of the reviewed herbal weight-loss supplements (my italics). Exceptions are Garcinia cambogia and yerba maté, which merit further investigation.”
For all I know, herbal diets may be the best thing to come down the pike in ages. What I do know is that clinical trials in the area of herbal medicines are few. I do know that certain herbs can be prepared in various ways, and one way could be good, and the other could be bad.
Some time ago, a particular herb that is quite popular for those attempting to lose weight was banned by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) due to reported deaths and serious side effects. I just checked online for that herb, and I could have a houseful of it before tomorrow night.
Again, the particular herb you might be thinking of putting into your body could possibly be the greatest thing under the sun. On the other hand.., well, talk to your dietician first.
Edwin Buckley has an MS in Health Care Administration from Central Michigan University. He recently started a blog, Diabetes and Living With It, which is intended as a sharing of information and stories for those with diabetes or having one they care for who has diabetes. It may be found at http://www.diabetesandlivingwithit.blogspot.com
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