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From The July 2001 Issue of Nutrition Science News
Ginseng Lowers Blood Glucose
by Jack Challem
In addition to being a symptom of diabetes, elevated blood sugar (glucose) levels significantly increase the risk of coronary heart disease. Supplementing the diet with American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) may have a glucose-moderating effect. Researchers at the University of Toronto found that healthy subjects taking 3, 6, or 9 grams of ginseng had postprandial glucose reductions ranging from 26 to 38 percent. The ginseng was most effective when taken a minimum of 40 to 120 minutes prior to glucose-tolerance testing.1
Jack Challem, known as the The Nutrition Reporter, has been writing about vitamin research for 25 years and is the author of Syndrome X: The Complete Nutritional Program to Prevent and Reverse Insulin Resistance (Wiley, 2000).
References
1.Vuksan V, et al. American ginseng improves glycemia in individuals with normal glucose tolerance: effect of dose and time escalation. J Am Coll Nutr 2000;19:738-44.
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