Gymnema as antioxidant

Gymnema Sylvestre as a treatment for diabetes, an antioxidant with additional benefits. ⁸ Researchers in India, where Gymnema has been used for over two millennia, found that treatment with an alcoholic extract of the gymnema leaf for 3 weeks resulted in a significant reduction in blood glucose and an increase in plasma insulin. The alcoholic extract also resulted in decreased free radical formation in plasma of diabetic rats. Thus, this study shows that Gymnema montanum leaf extract (GLEt) possess antihyperglycemic and antiperoxidative effect. The decrease in lipid peroxides and increase in reduced glutathione (GSH), ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) and alpha-tocopherol (Vitamin E) clearly show the antioxidant properties of GLEt. The effect of GLEt was most prominently seen in the case of animals given 200mgkg(-1) BW. In addition, the results suggest that GLEt was highly effective than the reference drug glibenclamide.