Scientists test ginseng as diabetes treatment

Such trials are underway as Dr. Dominic Reeds, an instructor in medicine at Washington University, and his colleagues are currently preparing a test to study the effects of ginseng and ginsenoside on volunteers. Experts warn ginseng has been ineffective in patients who already have diabetes, and that the root can have adverse effects if mixed with caffeine or certain medications such as warfarin (also known as Coumadin). Also, people who are prone to high blood pressure or heart palpitations are advised to avoid taking ginseng, as the root can worsen the conditions.

• Doctors at Washington University are testing ginseng, a root long used in traditional Asian medicine, to see if it can head off diabetes in overweight adults.
• Within a year, about 10 percent of adults in the U.S. will have diabetes and about 60 percent of them will have pre-diabetes - higher than normal blood sugar.
• But studies of animals suggest ginseng may fight insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes.
• Insulin resistance is often accompanied by obesity, high triglycerides and low HDL ("good") cholesterol and high blood pressure in a pre-diabetic condition sometimes called the metabolic syndrome.
• People with metabolic syndrome may have no symptoms to alert them that they could soon get diabetes or heart problems, but about 47 million in the U.S. have the condition.
• Ginseng has been used in Asia for about 2,000 years to treat a variety of ailments, including diabetes, said Dr. Dominic Reeds, an instructor in medicine at Washington University.
• He and others are testing the root and one of its active ingredients to see if it can improve the body's response to insulin in overweight people who have pre-diabetes.
• The researchers will give volunteers either capsules containing a placebo, whole-root extract of ginseng or a compound called ginsenoside Re - thought to be an active ingredient isolated from the root.
• In laboratory tests with animals, both the whole ginseng extract and the ginsenoside alone lowered blood sugar in mice after the rodents consumed a sugary drink.
• "I think consumers should rely heavily on clinical data (from human tests) rather than on anecdotal evidence or animal studies," said Dr. Chun-Su Yuan, director of the Tang Center for Herbal Medicine Research at the University of Chicago and editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Chinese Medicine.