candy may help type 2 diabetics?

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Licorice root, the raw material for licorice candy, has now been hailed as

containing substances with an anti-diabetic effect. These molecules reduce

blood sugar and possess anti-inflammatory properties. And even more

important: they are extremely well tolerated by the human body.

The licorice root has been used as a traditional healer since ancient times.

Certain forms of licorice root have already been shown to calm the digestive

system and ameliorate respiratory ailments in humans

Now scientists have discovered that licorice root from the papilionaceae or

leguminous family might also be effective in the treatment of type 2

diabetes. So far, treatments for type 2 diabetes have been developed but

none of them halt disease progression. Many clinicians believe that the best

treatment for type 2 diabetes is to prevent it before it starts.

The group that made the discovery is based at the Max Plank Institute for

Molecular Genetics in Berlin, Germany. A research team there identified a

group of natural substances within licorice root called amorfrutins, which

are named after the fruit of the Amorpha fruticosa bush in which they are

also found.

The group demonstrated in a mouse model of diabetes that amorfrutins reduce

blood sugar levels and inflammation that would otherwise be present in the

mice suffering from diabetes. In addition, ingesting the amorfrutins

prevented the development of a fatty liver - which is a common side effect

of diabetes and an excessively fat-rich diet.

The scientists also discovered that the amorfrutin molecules bind to a

nuclear receptor called PPARã. PPARã plays an important role in fat and

glucose metabolism by activating various genes that reduced the

concentration of fatty acids and glucose within the blood. The reduced

glucose level prevented the development of insulin resistance in the mice -

thereby blocking the main cause of type 2 diabetes.

There are already drugs on the market that activate the PPARã receptor;

however, many of them are not selective and cause side effects like weight

gain and cardiovascular problems. Amorfrutins represent a novel method to

activate the PPARã receptor minus the side effects.

However, the scientists immediately found a problem with dosage. The amount

of amorfrutin molecules in a piece of licorice available for human

consumption is far too low to cause the same beneficial effects that were

identified in the diabetic mice. Therefore, the researchers are developing a

special protocol to extract amorfrutins from the Amorpha fruticosa that they

hope will lead to mass production on an industrial scale.

Sascha Sauer, lead investigator of the study and head of the Otto Warburg

Laboratory at Max Plank Institute stated that, " The amorfrutins can be used

as functional nutritional supplements or as mild remedies that are

individually tailored to the patient. " " In view of the rapid spread of

metabolic diseases like diabetes, it is intended to develop these substances

further so that they can be used on humans in the future. "

The next step for the scientists will be to test the efficacy of the plant

amorfrutin extracts in clinical studies on diabetes patients. Diabetes

patients are in dire need of a new drug after a pair of treatments currently

on the market, Avandia and Actos, were recently restricted by the FDA after

new evidence surfaced linking the drugs to heart failure and stroke.

This study was published online in Proceedings of the National Academy of

Sciences USA on April 16, 2012.