7.19.2007

Salacia oblonga for type 2 diabetes

A tropical shrub used in Ayurveda for controlling obesity and its associated health complications, Salacia oblonga (a.k.a. Saptrangi) has shown promise in some limited trials that looked at its ability to reduce high blood sugar in diabetes. A new trial goes into more detail: the extract of the root and stems of this plant lowered post-meal blood glucose by about 25%, while also reducing the amount of circulating insulin in the blood. Thus, it seems to sensitize the physiology to insulin, which reverses the trend of insulin resistance seen in type 2 diabetes. A 25% reduction is significant: it could bring a diabetic patient with postprandial blood glucose levels over 150 down to the "normal" range of 120.

5 comments:

Dilip Shenai said...

hiii gr8 to find a blog on this rare plant, it wud e gr8 if u highlight some of the features such as interal structure of the root stem and leaf
thnkx bye

Michael Bailes said...

Any idea of how to grow it?
Any chance of seed?
m

Guido Mase' said...

Easy to grow from seed, is my second-hand understanding. But you need to live in a tropical environment as the plant needs to mature, 3-4 years, before harvest...
I'm honestly not sure where to get seed, but here's some additional info on cultivation:

Local name Ponkoranti
Family name Hippocrateaceae

General:Salacia oblonga is a valuable medicinal plants belonging to the family Hippocrateaceae and also found in the Southern India and Sri lanka . It is well recognized in traditional medicine as a remedy for diabetes. Superior in terms of safety compared to chemically synthesized products, Salacia oblonga are an effective anti-diabetic and dieting agent .
Agronomic practice

Soil: It thrives best in porous and well-drained soils with a pH ranging from 6.5 to 7.5

Climate: The S. oblonga will grow in temperature from 26ºC - 32 ºC and has been known to tolerate even 35ºC and the annual rain fall is 100 – 160cm.

Manures and Fertilizers: The nutritional requirement of this crop have shown that it responds well to the application of N,P and K and also cowdung, vermicompost.

Irrigation: The first irrigation is given immediately after transplanting, weekly irrigation is enough to obtain good growth and yield.

Weed: Due to the frequently irrigation during the initial stages, there is a lot of competition from weeds. In order to obtain economic yields, frequent weeding during the early growth period is desirable.

Pest : No major insects affect this crop.

Cultivation: Salacia oblonga propagates by seeds. Propagation through cutting is little difficult and slow where as propagation of seeds is very easy and economical

Planting: Plant should be planted at the interval of 1.5 - 2 meter. 800 seedlings are recommended for every acre.

Harvesting: The crop is ready for harvest 3-4 years after planting. Proper cultivation practices are applied, a yield of up to 700 -750 kg/per plant (fresh biomass 600 tones per acre) of dry tuber can be easily obtained

Michael Bailes said...

Thankyou

Admin.CV Sumber Aromatik Indonesia said...

Hi,

Can we had information for how long this plan could be re-harvest as rotation after the last harvest for stem and root?