Ebook Clinical Trial for Healthy Blood Sugar
The prevalence of diabetes is increasing in all countries, at an alarming rate. The various factors that contribute to the rise in the prevalence of diabetes include genetic factors that determine body fat distribution, rapid changes in eating habits and lifestyles that are increasingly sedentary. Therefore, appropriate interventions in the form of weight reduction, changes in dietary habits and increased physical activity could help in preventing or delaying the onset of diabetes.
Plants or their extracts may also have a potential therapeutic role in the controlling of blood sugar level. Traditional health care systems, including herbal medicine are widespread in developing countries , and the care of diabetics has been influenced by a growing interest in complementary and alternative medicine. Indian herbs such as Momordica charantia, Pterocarpus marsupium, and Trigonella foenum greacum have been reported to have a hypoglycemic effect in type 2 diabetes, through stimulating or regenerating effects on beta cells, or through extrapancreatic effects.
Coccinia indica (synonym Coccinia cordifolica), Common name: Ivy Gourd, Kunduru (Hindi), Kova (Malayalam), Kovai (Tamil), Tendali (Marathi), a herb that belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family and that grows abundantly in India, has been widely used in the traditional treatment of diabetes mellitus . The plant is a perennial herb that contains tuberous roots often forming a dense covering over the flora.
Studies have shown that the plant has an antidiabetic effect on alloxaninduced diabetic rabbits, in which a 95% alcohol extract of the leaves at doses of 2.5 g/kg and 5.0 g/kg decreased blood glucose levels by approximately 50% after six hours . Oral administration of 200 mg/kg of an aqueous ethanolic extract of the coccinia leaf and fruits for 45 days to diabetic animals demonstrated a significant reduction in blood glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin and increase in total hemoglobin and plasma insulin , suggesting that the administration of coccinia leaves to diabetic animals normalizes blood glucose. While literature on the potential efficacy of Coccinia indica (syn: Coccinia Cordifolia) in the treatment of human diabetes does exist, it is relatively sparse and heterogenous. Freeze dried Coccinia indica leaves, when administered orally twice a day for six weeks to patients with untreated but uncomplicated maturity onset diabetes, demonstrated hypoglycemic activity with significant improvement in glucose tolerance . However, many details about the exact dose administered, or patient characteristics, for example, if the body weight or food intake of the patients changed during the course of the treatment, were not clear.
These preliminary data suggest that further studies are needed. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to carefully evaluate the effectiveness of an aqueous alcoholic extract of Coccinia Cordifolia (synonym Coccinia indica) GENCINIA , in a dose of 1 g/d (equivalent to 15 g of the dried herb), on the blood glucose levels of newly detected type 2 diabetic patients requiring only dietary or lifestyle treatment.
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