Health Benefits
Reduces Sugar Cravings
Weight loss
Helps Lower Blood Sugar
Increases Insulin Production
Improves Cholesterol and Triglyceride Levels, Heart Health
Antioxidant, Reduces Oxidative Stress
Antimicrobial Properties
Reduces Sugar Cravings
Gymnema’s number one superpower is its ability to temporarily reduce the perception of sweet flavors and reduce cravings for sugar and sweets. Gymnema doesn’t affect other flavors, only sweet ones.
This is great news if you’re getting into ketosis or you’re in ketosis, but still experiencing the occasional sweet tooth. Gymnema sylvestre is an excellent choice to help you avoid sugar and sweet treats by making them less appealing. Gymnema sylvestre can help reduce sugar cravings.
Weight loss
If your goal is to lose fat, Gymnema or its extracts can make weight loss easier. Gymnema has an anti-obesity effect, prevents weight gain, and improves health markers associated with being overweight.
People who are overweight eat less when they take Gymnema sylvestre before meals.Gymnema reduces body weight without stimulating the central nervous system, meaning it doesn’t increase stress, alter cortisol levels, or disrupt sleep.
Gymnema pairs well with a ketogenic diet for fat loss. It makes the transition to low carb intake easier and reduces the adverse effects of eating too many carbs, and particularly too much sugar.
Helps Lower Blood Sugar
According to the World Health Organization, more than 420 million people worldwide have diabetes, and this number is expected to increase.
Gymnema is great for diabetes and metabolic syndrome, too. It improves blood sugar control and reduces high blood glucose levels. Similar to its effects on your taste buds, Gymnema sylvestre can also block receptors in your intestines and thus sugar absorption, lowering your post-meal blood sugar levels.
As a supplement, it has been used in combination with other diabetes medications to lower blood sugar. It’s also called gurmar, which is Hindi for “destroyer of sugar”.
In people with type 2 diabetes, Gymnema may improve insulin response to food and reduce dependence on insulin therapy or oral diabetes drugs. Gymnema can even restore insulin secretion from pancreatic beta cells, and help regenerate the damaged beta cells. Insulin-dependent diabetes patients taking Gymnema were able to reduce their insulin dosage by 50% and also had lower blood sugar levels.
Increases Insulin Production
Gymnema’s role in insulin secretion and cell regeneration may also contribute to its blood-sugar-lowering capabilities.Higher insulin levels mean that sugar is cleared from your blood at a faster rate.If you have prediabetes or type 2 diabetes, your body tends to not make enough insulin, or your cells become less sensitive to it over time. This results in consistently high blood sugar levels.
Gymnema sylvestre stimulates insulin production in your pancreas, promoting the regeneration of insulin-producing islet cells. This can help lower your blood sugar levels.Many traditional drugs help increase insulin secretion and sensitivity. However, herbal therapies are gaining momentum in drug development.
Improves Cholesterol and Triglyceride Levels, Heart Health
Gymnema sylvestre helps lower “bad” LDL cholesterol levels and triglycerides.While Gymnema gets its fame from lowering blood sugar levels and reducing sugar cravings, research shows that it may also influence fat absorption and lipid levels.
High levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol and triglycerides are risk factors for heart disease.Therefore, the positive effects of Gymnema sylvestre on LDL and triglycerides levels can contribute to a lower risk of heart conditions.
Antioxidant, Reduces Oxidative Stress
Gymnema is packed with antioxidants, too. Reactive oxygen species (ROS), also called free radicals, cause oxidative stress in the human body.
Overweight people have lower levels of antioxidants and higher levels of oxidative stress, which has been linked to a higher risk of metabolic syndrome, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, fatty liver diseases, and cancer.
Antimicrobial Properties
Recent research confirms Gymnema sylvestre has antimicrobial activity. Gymnema is active against Staphylococcus aureus (staph) and many other bacteria.
