Complementary medicine may prove vital in diabetic wellness. This is according to a new study from Chinese and Australian researchers, who have found that a traditional Chinese pill could be a key weapon in the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
Led by The University of Queensland’s Dr Sanjoy Paul in Australia and Peking University’s Professor Lilong Ji in China, the researchers found that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) significantly improved the efficacy of conventional diabetes drugs, substantially improving type 2 diabetes patients’ wellbeing. This study was the largest, scientifically-designed clinical trial to ever evaluate the safety and efficacy of TCM on glycaemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes.
800 type 2 diabetic adults participated in the study, which compared anti-diabetic drug glibenclamide as a stand-alone treatment with the same treatment of glibenclamide in conjunction with the Xiaoke Pill – a compound of Chinese herbs. The Xiaoke Pill roughly translates to ‘wasting-thirst,’ which is a common description of diabetes in TCM. The pill contains 0.25 micrograms of glibenclamide, as well as Radix puerariae, Radix rehmanniae, Radix astragali, Radix trichosanthis, Stylus zeae maydis, Fructus schisandrae sphenantherae, and Rhizoma dioscoreae.
Chinese medical journals have already published studies which show how the Xiaoke pill provides significant improvements in diabetes symptoms, but this new study, entitled Efficacy and Safety of Traditional Chinese Medicine for Diabetes: A Double-Blind, Randomised, Controlled Trial, is the first – as the title suggests – to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Xiaoke Pill with randomized, double blind, and placebo-controlled research.
After 48 weeks of treatment, the results of the study revealed that the patients who were given the Xiaoke Pill had a significant reduction in risk of hypoglycaemia, also known as dangerously low levels of blood sugar, compared with glibenclamide-only treatment. Those in the TCM group were also less likely to experience other symptoms of diabetes, such as fatigue, hunger, and palpitation.
According to Dr Paul, Director of the Queensland Clinical Trials and Biostatistics Centre at the UQ School of Population Health, ‘TCM has long been used to treat diabetes in China and around the world but until now there has been a lack of evidence regarding its safety and efficacy. This absence of scientific understanding has caused scepticism and criticism about TCM.’