Jiaogulan Health Benefits

Scientific Name: Gynostemma pentaphyllum

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Order: Cucurbitales

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Family: Cucurbitaceae

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Jiaogulan or gynostemma is a Traditional Chinese Medicine used to treat diabetes. The leaves can be used to make a relative sweet tasting tea.

Strong:

insufficient information

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Good:

insufficient information

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Promising:

• Type 2 Diabetes, including jiaogulan with the drug, sulfonylureas [1-3]

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Conflicting (Unclear):

insufficient information

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Limited Evidence:

• Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease [4]

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No Evidence:

insufficient information

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No Clinical Research:

All other conditions.

Side effects may include:

• Side effects have not been studied.

Precautions and Adverse Events:

• Use caution or contact a licensed healthcare practitioner, since there is not enough research on the use of supplements containing jiaogulan.

Jiaogulan appears to be safe for consumption as a beverage during pregnancy and breast-feeding.

Major:

insufficient information

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Moderate:

insufficient information

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Potential:

insufficient information

As a beverage, jiaogulan leaves are safe for consumption.

[Afendi et al. 2012]

1. Huyen VT, Phan DV, Thang P, Hoa NK, Ostenson CG. Antidiabetic effect of Gynostemma pentaphyllum tea in randomly assigned type 2 diabetic patients. Horm Metab Res. 2010 May;42(5):353-7. 2. Huyen VT, Phan DV, Thang P, Hoa NK, Ostenson CG. Gynostemma pentaphyllum tea improves insulin sensitivity in type 2 diabetic patients. J Nutr Metab. 2013;2013:765383. 3. Huyen VT, Phan DV, Thang P, Ky PT, Hoa NK, et al. Antidiabetic effects of add-on Gynostemma pentaphyllum extract therapy with sulfonylureas in type 2 diabetic patients. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2012;2012:452313. 4. Chou SC, Chen KW, Hwang JS, Lu WT, Chu YY, et al. The add-on effects of Gynostemma pentaphyllum on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Altern Ther Health Med. 2006 May-Jun;12(3):34-9. 5. Afendi FM, Okada T, Yamazaki M, Hirai-Morita A, Nakamura Y, Nakamura K, Ikeda S, Takahashi H, Altaf-Ul-Amin M, Darusman LK, Saito K, Kanaya S. KNApSAcK family databases: integrated metabolite-plant species databases for multifaceted plant research. Plant Cell Physiol. 2012 Feb;53(2):e1.