Gymnema Sylvestre: The "Sugar Destroyer"

Today’s almonds have been activated by:

In A Rush?

Today’s 30-Second Summary

If you don’t have time to read the whole email today, here are some key takeaways:

• Many people struggle with a “sweet tooth”, and as it turns out, there’s a supplement to deal with that! But that’s not all it does.

  • Today’s main feature examines Gymnema sylvestre, how it blocks us from tasting sweetness and blocks absorption of sugar from the gut (and thus, reducing its entry to the blood), while also improving our blood lipids while it’s at it. There are some caveats, but generally speaking, what a plant!

• How’s your hydration looking today? For most people, at any given time, it’s not great. But it doesn’t have to be that way!

  • Today's sponsor NativePath is offering a 365-day money-back guarantee on their range of electrolyte and amino acid drink mixes, which are great for your kidneys, bladder, and pelvic floor muscles.

• Today’s featured recipe is for the healthiest three-nut butter (picking the most nutritious, but also offering substitutions using healthy seeds in case of nut allergies)

Read on to learn more about these things, or click here to visit our archive

A Word To The Wise

Watch and Learn

How Aging Changes At 44 And Again At 60 (And What To Do About It)

Notwithstanding the thumbnail, it’s about far more than just carb metabolism:

Prefer text? The above video will take you to a 10almonds page with a text-overview, as well as the video!

Research Review Monday

The Leaf That Stops Sugar From "Working"

Gymnema sylvestre, whose botanical name in Greek and Latin means “naked thread of the woods”, and is in various Indian languages referred to be names that translate as “sugar destroyer”, has the most prosaic name in Australia: the Australian cowplant.

In English it’s mostly called by the Greek “gymnema” though, so that’s what we’ll call it here.

You may be wondering: “the sugar destroyer?”

And no, it doesn’t actually destroy sugar. But it does do quite a bit of sugar-related stuff. Here’s the science for it…

Blocks sugar receptors in your tongue

This is what it is most well-known for, and it is a topical effect, so you won’t get this from a pill, but you will get this from the leaves, or from drinking it as a tea made from the leaves.

The effect last several hours, during which time your ability to taste sweetness will be reduced, which not only makes sweet foods less appealing because they’re no longer tasting sweet, but also, once you get used to it, when you actually do taste sweet foods, they will now taste too sweet.

So, it doesn’t just temporarily curb cravings; it offers a long-term escape from such, too.

You may be wondering: “what about artificially sweetened foods and drinks?”

And the answer is: yes, it blocks perception of the sweetness of those too:

Effects of sweetness perception and caloric value of a preload on short term intake ← this study used gymnema as the sweetness-blocker, testing sugary drinks, aspartame-sweetened drinks, and unsweetened drinks

Blocks sugar receptors in the gut, too

Long story short: this slows down the absorption of sugars from the gut, thus resulting in a gentler blood sugar curve, minimizing spikes, and (because of the body’s use of blood sugars as it goes) overall lower blood sugar levels.

Want the long version? Here it is:

Effect of Extended Release Gymnema Sylvestre Leaf Extract (Beta Fast GXR) Alone or In Combination With Oral Hypoglycemics or Insulin Regimens for Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes

Benefits beyond sugar-blocking

It also prevents the accumulation of triglycerides in muscles and the liver, as well as decreasing fatty acid accumulation in the blood. In simpler terms: it lowers LDL (“bad” cholesterol”, including VLDL). As a bonus, it increases HDL (“good” cholesterol) while it’s at it.

The vast majority of the studies for this are on rats and mice though, of which you can see very many listed in the “similar articles” under this systematic review of studies:

A systematic review of Gymnema sylvestre in obesity and diabetes management

We did find one good quality human RCT, testing gymnema along with several other treatments (they found that each worked, and/but using a combination yielded the best results):

Effects of a natural extract of (-)-hydroxycitric acid (HCA-SX) and a combination of HCA-SX plus niacin-bound chromium and Gymnema sylvestre extract on weight loss

(the title says “on weight loss”, but rest assured the study also gives information about its effects on total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, overall triglycerides, and serum leptin levels, as well as excretion of urinary fat metabolites—suffice it to say, they were thorough)

Is it safe?

It has a good safety profile in general, but if you are diabetic, proceed with caution and discuss it with your endocrinologist, since it will be affecting your blood sugar levels and insulin levels. While it’s probably not enough to replace metformin or similar, it is enough that taking it carelessly could result in an unexpected hypo.

Similarly, if you have any heart condition and especially if you are being treated for that with medication, do speak with your cardiologist since its antilipemic action could potentially lower your cholesterol more than expected, and doctors don’t like surprises.

An Evidence-Based Systematic Review of Gymnema (Gymnema sylvestre R. Br.) by the Natural Standard Research Collaboration

As ever, no list of contraindications will be exhaustive, and we can’t speak for your specific situation, so checking with your pharmacist/doctor is always a good idea.

Want to try some?

We don’t sell it, but here for your convenience is an example product on Amazon ← we’ve linked to a tea version of it so you can enjoy the full effects; if you prefer capsule form, you can click through from there to shop around 😎

Enjoy!

Our Sponsors Make This Publication Possible

Don't drink more... Drink smarter!

You've probably heard that the human body is about 60% water.

That was true... In our 20s, anyway. By the age of 50, the average is more like 51.5%, and that number continues to drop as we get older.

But it doesn't have to be that way.

NativePath is offering an optimized blend of electrolytes and amino acids, that has been shown to reduce UTIs by 58%, improve muscle strength by 36%, and yes, that includes strengthening the bladder!

In short: you don't have to drink more, if you drink smarter.

Best of all, there's a 365-day money-back guarantee, so there's no reason not to try it out and see if you like it:

Please do visit our sponsors—they help keep 10almonds free

This Or That?

Vote on Which is Healthier

Yesterday we asked you to choose between carrot and kale—we picked the kale (click here to read about why), as did 56% of you!

Now for today’s choice:

Click on whichever you think is better for you!

Recipes Worth Sharing

Healthiest-Three-Nut Butter

We’re often telling you to “diversify your nuts”, so here’s a great way to get in three at once with no added sugar, palm oil, or preservatives, and only the salt you choose to put in.

We’ve picked three of the healthiest nuts around, but if you happen to be allergic, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered too:

Click below for our full recipe, and learn its secrets:

One-Minute Book Review

Calm Your Mind with Food: A Revolutionary Guide to Controlling Your Anxiety – by Dr. Uma Naidoo

From the author of This Is Your Brain On Food, the psychiatrist-chef (literally, she is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist and an award-winning chef) is back with a more specific work, this time aimed squarely at what it says in the title; how to calm your mind with food.

You may be wondering: does this mean comfort-eating? And, well, not in the sense that term’s usually used. There will be eating and comfort will occur, but the process involves an abundance of nutrients, a minimization of health-deleterious ingredients, and a “for every chemical its task” approach. In other words, very much “nutraceuticals”, as our diet.

On which note: as we’ve come to expect from Dr. Naidoo, we see a lot of hard science presented simply and clearly, with neither undue sensationalization nor unnecessary jargon. We learn about the brain, the gut, relevant biology and chemistry, and build up from understanding ingredients to dietary patterns to having a whole meal plan, complete with recipes.

You may further be wondering: how much does it add that we couldn’t get from the previous book? And the answer is, not necessarily a huge amount, especially if you’re fairly comfortable taking ideas and creating your own path forwards using them. If, on the other hand, you’re a little anxious about doing that (as someone perusing this book may well be), then Dr. Naidoo will cheerfully lead you by the hand through what you need to know and do.

Bottom line: if not being compared to her previous book, this is a great standalone book with a lot of very valuable content. However, the previous book is a tough act to follow! So… All in all we’d recommend this more to people who want to indeed “calm your mind with food”, who haven’t read the other book, as this one will be more specialized for you.

Click here to check out Calm Your Mind With Food, and do just that!

Penny For Your Thoughts?

Wishing you the most well-informed start to the week,

The 10almonds Team