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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A natural plant product found in the roots and bark of plants common to China may one day help treat people with type 2 diabetes.
Researchers from China, Korea and Australia have found berberine is effective in lowering blood sugar, which is key to controlling the disease.
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"Our studies in animal models of diabetes show that berberine acts in part by activating an enzyme in the muscle and liver that is involved in improving sensitivity of the tissue to insulin -- this in turn helps lower blood sugar levels," says study author Jiming Ye, Ph.D., from the Garvan Institute in Sydney, Australia. "In addition, it seems berberine can help reduce body weight."
Berberine has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for many years to treat everything from wounds to diarrhea. These researchers decided to test its effects on blood sugar after noting Chinese literature documented its ability to lower glucose levels.
If berberine proves effective in additional studies involving humans, researchers hypothesize it could add an important treatment to the diabetes arsenal because standard drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes are either poorly tolerated in many patients or cause undesirable weight gain.
"Berberine has been used for decades, if not centuries, with few reported side effects," says David E. James, Ph.D., another study author. "Given the limitations of existing medicines we are excited to have evidence that berberine may be a helpful new treatment for type 2 diabetes; however, despite its widespread use in traditional medicine practices, it will still have to be evaluated properly following the defined clinical trials process."
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
SOURCE: Diabetes, published online Aug. 1, 2006
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