Chinese Herbal Cure for Diabetes

Traditional Chinese medicine, or TCM, has a rich history of designing complex herbal formulations to treat many of the diseases that have afflicted humanity throughout history. Diabetes is a disease that has taken on epidemic proportions in the industrialized world, and many people are looking for ancient remedies for this very modern problem. Although Chinese herbal remedies may not be an outright cure for diabetes, there is strong scientific evidence for the use of Chinese herbs as powerful therapeutic agents in many of the complications and symptoms of diabetes.

History

• Chinese medicine evolved over several thousands of years and remedies were found to be effective in village life and codified into large manuals of herbal medicine that became the textbooks of study for royal court herbalist. Over the course of its history, Chinese medicine has identified several herbs that are believed to be effective in treating diabetes, and they are combined in complementary formulas that are designed to address specific aspects of the diabetic disease.

Jiang Tang Jia Pian

• The Chinese formula known as Jiang Tang Jia Pian is a combination of the herbs astragalus, polygonatum, trichosanthes root, pseudostellaria, and rehmannia and is a very common prescription for the treatment of diabetes. A study done at the China Academy of TCM, in Beijing, China, and published in May 1993 tested the effects of Jiang Tang Jia Pian on diabetic rats. They found that Jiang Tang Jia Pian decreased the blood sugar levels of the rats and increased the levels of of the antioxidant superoxide dismutase, or SOD.

Hyperglycemia

• Hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) is one of the most common complications in diabetic patients and can lead to the damage of pancreatic tissue. In a study published in August 2007 in the journal Phytotherapy Research, Chinese doctors studied the effects of a combination of three Chinese herbs--radix astragali, radix codonopsis and cortex lycii on diabetic rats. The extract of the three herbs seemed to protect the pancreatic cells from damage caused by diabetic hyperglycemia.

Rehmannia Glutinosa

• In traditional Chinese herbal medicine, the herb rehmannia glutinosa is one of the prime herbs indicated for diabetic conditions and is often included in formulas intended to mediate diabetic complications. In a study published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology in January 2004, Chinese scientists studied rehmannia glutinosa's effect on the blood sugar of diabetic rats. They found that rehmannia glutinosa was able to exhibit a hypoglycemic (blood sugar lowering) effect on the rats.

Considerations

• When seeking a Chinese remedy for diabetes it may be wise to schedule a consultation with an experienced practitioner. With a wide variety of different factors that contribute to diabetes and many possible complications involved in the disease progression, it is likely that each Chinese remedy will be individually tailored to the patients specific needs, symptoms and constititution.