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Can gurmar extract be used as a functional dietary supplement?

04/10/2019 // Ralph Flores // Views

Tags: alternative medicine, diabetes, dietary supplement, disease treatments, fightobesity, functional food, goodhealth, goodmedicine, gurmar, herbal medicine, Herbs, natural cures, natural medicine, plant medicine, prevention, remedies

Researchers from Seoul National University in South Korea found that the gurmar plant (Gymnema sylvestre) can protect against symptoms of a metabolic disorder. The study, which appeared in The American Journal of Chinese Medicine, also highlighted the potential of gurmar extract as an ingredient in functional dietary supplements.

• The researchers used an integrated approach to look at the efficacy of gurmar extract as a supplement in a high-fat diet.
• They used insulin resistance, adipose tissue dysfunction, and liver steatosis as benchmarks.
• Rats used in the experiment were fed a high-fat diet for both the acute and chronic study. G. sylvestre extracts were then supplemented in varying doses, namely, 100, 250, and 500 mg/kg of body weight.
• Changes in body composition, serum lipid and glucose parameters, adipose and liver tissue histology, and gene expression were recorded.
• Researchers found that G. sylvestre extracts significantly inhibited the increases in body weight; lipid serum levels; insulin, leptin, and adipose tissue; and liver inflammation.
• The extracts also exhibited hypoglycemic effects, which researchers identified to be caused by its ability to inhibit amylase. The researchers also identified a link between high-fat diet-induced insulin resistance and fatty liver and adipose dysfunction.

In sum, the researchers found that gurmar extracts can potentially be used as a dietary supplement and a preventive agent against metabolic disorders.

Learn more about supplements that can help prevent metabolic disorders at SupplementsReport.com.

Journal Reference:

Kim HJ, Kim S, Lee AY, Jang Y, Davaadamdin O, Hong SH, Kim JS, Cho MH. THE EFFECTS OF GYMNEMA SYLVESTRE IN HIGH-FAT DIET-INDUCED METABOLIC DISORDERS. The American Journal of Chinese Medicine. 18 May 2017;45(04):813–832. DOI: 10.1142/S0192415X17500434

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