This article was published in 2008 with research conducted at National Taiwan University. Scientists set out to evaluate the “antihyperglycemic effect of guava leaf extracts in diabetic rats.”
As stated in previous posts, diabetes mellitus is a type of metabolic disorder, characterized by hyperglycemia (high blood sugar), and deficiencies in in insulin secretion and/or insulin action. Type 2 Diabetes is the most common type of diabetes. According to this article, Type 2 Diabetes is expected to affect more than 365 million people worldwide by the year 2030.
People in both Japan and Taiwan boil guava leaves in water and drink the extract as a folk medicine for diabetes, and researchers decided to test the efficacy of this treatment in Type 2 Diabetic rats. They found that “diabetic rats that received oral guava leaf extracts showed lower blood glucose levels” (p. 1460), and the lowering of blood glucose levels was dose-dependent. So, higher doses of guava leaf extract resulted in lower blood glucose readings.
Researchers concluded that “guava leaf extracts may relieve hyperglycemia in diabetic rats. Guava leaf extracts also stimulate[d] glucose utilization in liver tissues.” They found that through a variety of possible mechanisms/pathways, guava leaf extract “resulted in a decrease in the blood glucose level in diabetic rats.”
