It was more than 3,000 years ago that Gymnema sylvestre, Asclepaidaceae plant indigenous to certain regions of the tropical and subtropical countries, began to be used as a popular native medicinal herbs among people in India in order to remove superflous flesh of the body and to treat madhameha (diabetes mellitus) and it still continues to this day in India.
In this study, levels of blood glucose after sucrose in dose of 6 g/kg of body weight with or without Gymnemic acid (GA), a mixture of triterpene glucuronides extracted from the leaves of Gymnema sylvestre, in dose of 0.4 g/kg of body weight were deter-mined to investigate the effect of GA on the elevaton of blood glucose with sugar intake in normal subjects.
After an overnight fasting,sucrose solution was given orally to the control group. Experimental groups were divided into single GA, GA administred once with sucross simultaneously and Triple GA, GA administred at 2 hours and 1 hour before sucrose and another one with sucrose simultaneously. Blood glucose levels were determined with Glucoscot at just before and 15, 30, 60, 90 and 120 minutes after sucrose ad-ministration.
Results obtained were as follows:
1. In Control Group, fasting blood glucose level, 100.6mg/dl, was rapidly elevated to 144.8 mg/dl (increased 43.5070 of the basal level) at 15 minutes and reached to maximal, 148.1 mg/dl (48.0070 increased) at 30 minutes after sucrose administration. Blood glucose level was returned to the basal level after 120 minutes.
2. In Single GA Group, fasting basal glucose level, 99.0 mg/dl, was elevated to 120.6 mg/dl (22.9070 increased) at 15 minutes and reached to maximal, 130.1 mg/dl (32.8% increased) at 30 minutes after sucrose administration. Percent increase in blood glucose level was significantly suppressed to 53% and 68% of those in without GA at 15 and 30 minutes after sucrose administration respectively.
3. In Triple GA Group, fasting basal glucose level, 96.0 mg/dl, was increased to 108.2 mg/dl (13.3010 increased) at 15 minutes and reached to maximal, 114.1 mg/dl (19.6% increased) at 30 minutes after sucrose administration. Percent increase in blood glucose level was more significantly suppressed to 31% and 41% of those in without GA and to 58% and 60% of those in Single GA Group at 15 and 30 minutes after sucrose administration respectively.
Present results suggest that gymnemic acid has an suppressive effect on raising blood glucose level after sucrose administration. This fact would be the advantage of gymnemic acid in an application to the therapy or prevention of diabetes mellitus and obesity.
|