Maintaining A Physiological Blood Glucose Level with Glucolevel, A Combination of Four Anti-Diabetes Plants Used in the Traditional Arab Herbal Medicine

Safety and anti-diabetic effects of Glucolevel, a mixture of dry extract of leaves of the Juglans regia L, Olea europea L, Urtica dioica L and Atriplex halimus L were evaluated using in vivo and in vitro test systems. No sign of toxic effects (using LDH assay) were seen in cultured human fibroblasts treated with increasing concentrations of Glucolevel. Similar observations were seen in vivo studies using rats (LD50: 25g/kg). Anti-diabetic effects were evidenced by the augmentation of glucose uptake by yeast cells (2-folds higher) and by inhibition of glucose intestinal absorption (49) in a rat gut-segment. Furthermore, treatment with Glucolevel of Streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats for 23 weeks showed a significant reduction in glucose levels [above 40050mg/dl to 21022mg/dl (P 0.001)] and significantly improved sugar uptake during the glucose tolerance test, compared with positive control. In addition, glucose levels were tested in sixteen human volunteers, with the recent onset of type 2 diabetes mellitus, who received Glucolevel tablets 13 daily for a period of 4 weeks. Within the first week of Glucolevel consumption, baseline glucose levels were significantly reduced from 29040 to 21020mg/dl. At baseline, a subgroup of eleven of these subjects had glucose levels below 300mg and the other subgroup had levels300mg. Clinically acceptable glucose levels were achieved during the 23 weeks of therapy in the former subgroup and during the 4th week of therapy in the latter subgroup. No side effect was reported. In addition, a significant reduction in hemoglobin A1C values (8.21.03 to 6.90.94) was found in six patients treated with Glucolevel. Results demonstrate safety, tolerability and efficacy of herbal combinations of four plants that seem to act differently but synergistically to regulate glucose-homeostasis.