Gymnema Sylvestre for Diabetes

Diabetic patients, having either type 1 diabetes or type 2 diabetes can benefit a lot from regular use of gymnema sylvestre. It is one of the herbs commonly used in Ayuverdic medicines of India. It is found in the tropical forests of southern and central India. It is being used as natural treatment for diabetes for more than two thousand years. The Hindi name of gymnema sylvestre, 'Gur-mar', literally means sugar destroyer. The Sanskrit name Meshasringa means 'ram's horn', a name, that must have been derived from the shape of its fruits. The Latin word gymnema has its origin in another Latin word meaning 'naked' and sylvestre means 'from the forest'.

Benefits of Gymnema Sylvestre for Diabetics

• Gymnema sylvestre helps reduce the need for insulin in diabetes and also helps lower the fasting blood glucose levels.
• It reduces the intestinal glucose uptake and thus diabetic patient can notice low blood sugar levels.
• The active component GS4 from this herb helps raise the beta cells in pancreas, leading to an increased production of insulin.
• Diabetes is associated with hormonal imbalance. Gymnema plays an important role in preventing adrenaline from stimulating the liver to produce glucose.
• The natural health benefits of this herb cut down the need for conventional drug therapy and the patients don't have to tolerate the side effects of those drugs.
• Studies have shown that gymnema works great for hyperglycemia, restores appetite and cures dyspepsia. It is useful for anemic patients and it helps prevent several inflammatory conditions.
• Gymnema leaves are used for stomach ailments, constipation, water retention and liver disease. Gymnema improves your digestive health, which indirectly is helpful for diabetic patients.
• Obesity is the main problem in type 2 diabetes. One of the major health benefits of this herb is, that it helps you in losing weight, especially when combined with calcium citrate and chromium. It helps build lean muscle mass.
• When placed in mouth and chewed, gymnema reduces the taste of sugar and this effect can last at least for two hours. Thus, it helps fight sugar cravings. Gymnemic acid from gymnema leaves displays anti sweet activity and curbs sugar cravings.
• Additional benefits of this herb are related to decreased cholesterol levels and triglycerides. Gymnema helps in the absorption of oleic acid, which is one of the omega-9 fatty acids found in vegetable oil, animal fat and other sources of dietary fat. This helps reduce LDL (bad) cholesterol and also helps raise the HDL (good) cholesterol levels.

Side Effects of Gymnema Sylvestre

Low doses of gymnema sylvestre or its short-term use, may have unnoticeable side effects. Long term use or high dosage may raise systolic blood pressure in some rare cases. In most of the studies, no adverse side effects of the herb were observed. Some patients developed hypoglycemia (low blood glucose) and required a lowering of their dose of conventional oral medication or insulin.

If you have diabetes, you should carefully use gymnema sylvestre. You should monitor blood glucose levels regularly. You are supposed to adjust your medication and consult your physician, so as to maintain desired blood glucose levels. Improved insulin production during gymnema sylvestre supplementation may result in over-medication and this may cause low blood glucose levels. So, you are expected to lower the prescribed dose of conventional oral medication or insulin. If blood glucose levels are monitored on a daily basis, this supplementation shouldn't present a problem.

It is recommended that Gymnema sylvestre should be taken in combination with other vitamins, minerals and herbs for diabetes. It is available in natural weight-loss products, often with alpha lipoic acid, banaba, bitter melon, black cumin, calcium, chromium, copper, green tea, magnesium, manganese, etc. If you are thinking of taking gymnema sylvestre, then taking it with other alternative medicines would be more beneficial.