Amazon Trees Control Diabetes

Dr. Donna Schwontkowski is a researcher with a long-standing fascination with the healing properties of plants - Amazon trees, in particular.

And she has found an impressive array of human conditions tree products can be used to treat. Diabetes is just one.

Diabetes mellitus affects about 14 million Americans and is the fourth leading cause of death by disease in the United States. Diabetes takes the lives of more than 150,000 people each year. It is a major cause of heart disease, stroke and kidney dise ase, and is the number one cause of new cases of blindness and amputations in the U.S.

Doctors advise people diagnosed with diabetes to learn to live with it, because there is no cure. Treatment is designed merely to relieve symptoms, improve the body's ability to metabolize glucose and correct faulty metabolism, prevent or correct complications, and ensure adequate nutrition.

The usual advice is to lose weight, exercise, and "hope that next month's blood sugar levels will return to normal."

Dr Schwontkowski's research into the medicinal effects of Brazilian and Peruvian herbs have uncovered several plants which reportedly lower blood sugar levels, normalize the frequency of urination, and eliminate glucose in the urine of diabetics. Much of the research was ethnobotanical; however, several scientific studies showed the effectiveness of these herbs in cases of adult-onset diabetes in reducing blood sugar levels, sometimes up to 35%.

A patient named Anne took a combination of the herbs Pata de vaca, Pedra hume caa, Stevia and Cashew plant daily in-between meals when her blood sugar levels needed regulation. After one month, she said, her blood sugar level fell to 140 mg/dl. After two months, it was down to 110 mg/dl (within normal range), and it stayed there for her next annual checkup. She hadn't lost any weight through dietary modification or exerc ise.

Yet another reason to conserve and research a treasure as great as the Amazon jungle trees ...