Diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases in modern times. The number of diagnosed patients in China alone has reached about 114 million, and the number of pre-diabetes has reached more than 500 million. Therefore, research related to diabetes has never stopped.
Although there are many drugs for lowering blood sugar, they are mainly Western drugs, such as sulfonylureas, glinides, metformin, etc. Long-term use of these drugs will produce many adverse reactions. Recently, it has been discovered that many plants also have pharmacological effects on lowering blood sugar, and mulberry leaves are one of them.
Drinking mulberry leaves instead of tea can help lower blood sugar
The use of mulberry leaves has a history of more than 5,000 years in China, and the most familiar one is the use of mulberry leaves to raise silkworms. However, records of its medicinal use can be traced back to the oldest "Shen Nong's Materia Medica". Also known as Iron Fan, it is the dried leaf of the Moraceae plant Morus. It tastes bitter and is cold in nature. It has the effects of dispelling wind, clearing away heat, nourishing the lungs and improving eyesight.
Its blood sugar-lowering effect is recorded in the "Compendium of Materia Medica": "The leaves can be decoctioned instead of tea to quench thirst" and "fried and cooked to drink can be used instead of tea to quench thirst."
Diabetes is a modern medical name, and there are many records of its disease names in ancient books of the past dynasties. "Diabetes, quenching thirst" is two of them, as well as "Xiaohe, Xiaozhong, Spleen and Li". Xiao, Gao Xiao, Lung Xiao, Kidney Xiao, San Xiao, Guo Mu Xiao, Chong Xiao..." and so on.
So, mulberry leaves have been used to assist in lowering blood sugar in ancient times. In modern pharmacological research, people have found that the blood sugar-lowering effect of mulberry leaves is mainly due to the bioactive substances they contain, such as flavonoids, polysaccharides, and alkaloids.
Domestic and foreign researchers have studied mulberry leaf extract and found that bioactive substances such as flavonoids, polysaccharides, and alkaloids can promote liver glucose metabolism, reduce oxidative damage to pancreatic islets, and maintain beta cell function. Insulin secretion and other pathways exert its blood sugar-lowering effect.
In modern clinical practice, mulberry leaves are often used instead of tea to reduce blood sugar in diabetic patients. The recommended dosage is 10~20g. If it is fresh product, double the dosage. In the "Chinese People's Pharmacopoeia (2015 Edition)", the recommended dosage of mulberry leaves is 5~10g.
In addition to lowering blood sugar, it also has other effects
In addition to lowering blood sugar, mulberry leaves also have pharmacological effects such as lowering blood pressure, anti-aging, lowering blood lipids, and antioxidants. In modern times, many mulberry leaf-related health products and foods have been developed, such as mulberry tea, mulberry leaf noodles, mulberry leaf paste, etc.
Folks also have the habit of drinking mulberry leaf tea. Add 30g of frosted mulberry leaves to 500~1000ml of water, boil for 10~15 minutes, take the juice and drink it instead of tea. One dose per day for dispelling wind. Relieves asthma, relieves cough and resolves phlegm.
However, it is mentioned in the "Chinese People's Pharmacopoeia (2015 Edition)" and literature reports: mulberry leaves are cooler in nature and should not be used by those with spleen and stomach deficiency and should be used with caution. Therefore, people with weak stomachs still need to pay attention.
These traditional Chinese medicines can also effectively regulate blood sugar
In addition to mulberry leaves, coptis, kudzu root, bitter melon, polygonatum, ginseng, yam and other traditional Chinese medicines also have the ability to effectively regulate blood sugar. It is also used clinically for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
Among them, Coptis chinensis can directly regulate blood sugar, reduce insulin resistance, lower blood lipids, protect cardiovascular blood vessels, and improve complications such as diabetic eye and foot damage.
In dialectical treatment of traditional Chinese medicine, many traditional Chinese medicines have good pharmacological effects. Like mulberry leaves, in addition to having good medicinal effects in lowering blood sugar, it also has the effects of lowering blood lipids and lowering blood pressure.
Diabetes patients can drink mulberry leaf sencha to help lower blood sugar. If it is used as medicine, it should be taken under the guidance of traditional Chinese medicine and combined with your own blood sugar and medication conditions. You must not mix it by yourself to prevent the occurrence of hypoglycemia.
It needs to be emphasized that whether it is used to assist in lowering blood sugar or as medicine, it is best to take it under the guidance of a doctor and monitor blood sugar changes regularly. In addition, you must not listen to the sales of health products and miss your condition.
Finally, I would like to emphasize that patients with diabetes must pay attention to changes in their blood sugar. If it is high or low, they should adjust treatment in time to prevent the occurrence of serious complications.