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.”

To access the full article, click here

          The World Health Organization (WHO) categorizes diabetes as a top preventable killer worldwide – Type 2 diabetes, arising commonly from excess body weight and inactivity, comprises 90% of diagnosed diabetics.  In 2004, an estimated 3.4 million people died from blood sugar related consequences, and WHO predicts that death from diabetes will double by 2030.  Eighty percent of these deaths will occur in low-to-middle income countries.

          These are sobering statistics.  However, there is a silver lining illuminating these dark clouds.  Type 2 diabetes is both manageable, and highly preventable.  Guava leaves can, and do, play an important role in diabetes management and prevention.  The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has published a list of “Foods For Specific Health Uses,” or FOSHU.  This list includes a commercial (pre-packaged) form of guava leaf tea, called Bansoureicha, made by Yakult Honsha.    

          In 2010 Yakult Honsha published a clinical study utilizing guava leaf tea in Nutrition & Metabolism, “Anti-hyperglycemic and anti-hyperlipidemic effects of guava leaf extract.”  In the study, they reviewed “evidence regarding the anti-hyperglycemic activities and safety of GvEx (guava leaf extract) and Guava Leaf Tea in vitro [petri dish], as well as in animal models and several clinical trials.”  They also described “the efficacy and safety of Guava Leaf Tea in pre-diabetic and diabetic patients with T2DM (Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus).”[i]

          In a clinical trial involving twenty hospitalized patients with T2DM, guava leaf tea was given to patients 2 hours after mealtime, after postprandial glucose levels had been allowed to elevate.  The elevated level was “significantly reduced with a single administration of guava leaf tea.”   

          In a continuation of the clinical study, they tested guava leaf tea’s effectiveness over a twelve-week period.  They found that “insulin resistance significantly decreased in all subjects.  Moreover…serum levels of total cholesterol and triglycerides significantly decreased in the subjects with hypercholesterolemia (high cholesterol) and hypertriglycemia (high triglyceride levels).”

          What does this all mean?  Guava leaf use should be more widespread as a tool to help combat a worldwide leading cause of malady, both in developed and undeveloped countries.  As the article states, “the consecutive ingestion of guava leaf tea [or guava leaf extract] with every meal is expected to benefit pre-diabetic and diabetic patients as an aliment therapy in both developed and undeveloped countries.”  Yakault Honsha’s motives are for people to buy and drink their product every day, but any form of guava leaf will have the same wonderful benefits. 

          Look for more reviews on scientific articles about guava leaf to come!  

       To read the full article, click here

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Deguchi et. Al. “Anti-hyperglycemic and anti-hyperlipidemic effects of guava leaf extract,” Nutrition and Metabolism, 2010, 7:9.

Blogger/author Sushma Joshi’s compelling thoughts on the gap between “modern” and “traditional” medicine in Nepal:

Last Tuesday, Kalpana Dhimal (28), hung herself after she couldn’t afford health care for her infant daughter. The baby died a day later. “Poverty-stricken mom hangs self,” was the headline of a national daily. According to the same report, the child was running a 105 degree fever. The nursing home demanded Rs.1,700 per day. Like many women, she didn’t ask her husband or family for the money. She chose to die instead.

Joshi’s article mentions the use of guava leaves to treat epilepsy. Read the full article here.

Did you know… That we can make a difference?

The American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women^® works every day to fund research and fight this killer so that more women can be saved. But they need our help. Please celebrate National Wear Red Day^® on Friday, February 4, or any day to raise awareness about heart disease among women, and the funds to ensure the research that could save a woman’s life
won’t have to be denied.

The American Heart Association uses all revenues from local and national Go Red For Women activities, like National Wear Red Day, to support awareness, research, education and community programs to benefit women. These funds help women by offering educational programs, advancing women’s understanding about their risk for heart disease and providing tools and motivation to help women reduce their risk to protect their health.

It is their mission and belief that together we can make a difference. This February we can join their mission, raise funds and rally support to fight this silent killer.

There are many health benefits of guava leaves for diabetics to lower their blood glucose levels and for eliminating toxins in the body that cause diarrhea. Guava leaves will also inhibit the activity of toxins already in the body. Drinking guava leaf tea can treat ulcers in the mouth, as well as ease discomfort from sore throats, laryngitis and mouth swelling. It may also be used as a topical treatment for wounds and infections because guava leaf has anti-bactorial properties.

I interviewed a Fillipino woman about her experience with guava leaves. Her family couldn’t afford to buy medicine, so it was common to use guava leaves for healing. They ate or boiled them into a tea for curing ulcers, healing wounds or lowering a fever. Check out the video above or on the Guava Leaf Extract Youtube channel.

Herbs and spices have been used all over the world for healing and prevention purposes, with great emphasis in the Eastern cultures and traditions. Freelance writer Elina Sihombing owns and operates a hotel, which gives her the opportunity to swap and share ideas and traditions with hotel customers from all over. In her article reminisces about the traditional remedies used by her Indonesian heritage:

When we lived in Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo, we had a big tree with white flowers that smelled like jasmine (bunga kantil). We collected the flowers, dried and ground them and then used the powder as a skin mask. Guava leaves were boiled and we drank the juice to alleviate diarrhea. The water from the stem of bananas was used to heal skin cuts. The most famous remedy is jamu, a unique Indonesian drink to keep you young, slim and strong. It is made from a variety of roots and ingredients – including ginger, calanga, tumeric and lime leaves – that are ground, boiled and filtered.”

Read Elina’s full article here

On the evening of day two, I got online and made phone call after phone call.  “Do you carry guava leaf tea?”  I would ask.  “What kind of tea?” the response would be.  “Could you spell it?”  “One more call,” I told myself.  “Someone has to know SOMETHING.”

Then … someone did!  Drug Stop 22 had it!!  The poor woman on the phone did not understand my excitement, and so I explained.  I had been searching for days, I told her.  DAYS!  And I finally found someone who carries it!  The trail was warming back up.

Day three: I went to Drug Stop 22 and spoke with an employee named Melissa. She said she carried the tea because people requested it, but she didn’t know what they used it for.  She also told me that she was fairly sure guava leaf tea was sold in Chinatown.

So off I went to Chinatown.  I found guava leaf tea at one of the huge stores, Wing Hop Fung, and at another small market, BJ’s Market.  There were a couple different kinds of tea – one branded as a detox tea, another as a tea for diabetics.  At last, my efforts were panning out.  The women at the tea counter said they sold a decent amount of the tea, and that it was very beneficial for healthy blood sugar levels, as well as for the gastro-intestinal system.

Driving back to Las Vegas, I reflected on my trip.  What had I found?  Guava leaves have been used for many centuries, but by only a segment of the world’s population. Even in trend-setting L.A., it remains an herb popular only within Asian culture. The general population may be missing out, but we now know the baseline. And with the popularity of all things Asian, and with the huge number of tea and herbal retailers in Southern California, it may be only a matter of time before the guava leaf market expands.

My search for guava leaves in L.A. continues, and the trail grows warmer as I meet people of Asian descent who have enjoyed it in the past. But if I am to find people currently enjoying guava leaf’s benefits, I soon discover that I need a new game plan.

The next morning at Erewhon, one of the largest and best-known natural foods markets in L.A., I spoke with Shonie, a small-framed Filipino woman.  “Filipino guava leaves are the best guava leaves,” she told me with a smile. “My grandma used to get the stink really bad,” she said, crinkling her nose and waving her hands in front of her armpits. “She use guava leaves, and it goes away!  She’d boil them, then bathe in the water and pack the leaves under her arms.  It works very well!”

At the juice bar within one of the many Whole Foods I went into, I found Nancy, a woman also of Asian descent. She told me that her mom used to give her and her siblings guava leaf tea in the mornings when they were little while their parents drank coffee.  “I don’t know why they gave us guava leaf tea, but we always had it,” Nancy told me. “I like it, but I haven’t had any for a long time.”

At this point, I was both encouraged and discouraged.  I was starting to find people who were familiar with guava leaves, but unfortunately, I had yet to find any physical evidence of their presence in L.A..  I had exhausted the more obvious channels. I retreated back to my hotel to review my notes and make a new game plan.

After years of reviewing research papers and attending lectures on topics related to Guava Leaf Extract, I thought it was time to do some field research. I knew that West L.A. is often a hotbed for new trends, so I headed west. My goal: to connect with trend makers in Southern California who already know about Guava Leaves and to uncover where interest in this herb is most likely to gain momentum.

I reside in Las Vegas, only a four-hour drive to L.A., so this was a relatively easy trip to plan.  Upon my arrival in West Hollywood, I was struck by the number of tea shops and holistic-health stores.  This seemed a likely area to find people using guava leaves.

Before beginning my search, I first settled into my home for the week, Le Montrose Suite Hotel, near the famous Sunset Strip. This lovely modern boutique hotel is tucked away in a quiet West Hollywood neighborhood.  I chatted with the smiling front desk workers, and asked whether they had ever heard of anybody using guava leaf – they hadn’t.  I explained my mission for the week: to track down any and all uses of guava leaf by anyone in the Los Angeles area.  Immediately, one of the desk guys presented me with my first lead: the Bodhi Tree Bookstore, which has a small herb store in the back. This popular holistic store was just a few blocks away.  I thanked him, and the hunt was on.

I went immediately to Bodhi Tree, and asked the tall, thin bespectacled employee if he had ever heard of anyone using guava leaves.  He hadn’t.  He provided me with a list, though, of homeopathic pharmacies and herb stores in the area.  Score!  I started going through the list, plugging each new address into my GPS, driving from destination to destination.  Surely I would find someone who would have helpful information along the way.

By the end of day two, I still hadn’t found any place that carried guava leaf extract, tea or any other derivative. Trying not to be disappointed, I continued my search. I had spoken with homeopathic pharmacists and herb store owners (a few of the herb stores I wandered into only specialized in one kind of herb – not the kind I was looking for).  All agreed that there was science behind guava leaf, but they didn’t know of anyone who sold it.  Sadly, it felt as though my hot pursuit to find guava leaf in West Hollywood was growing cold.