Skip to main content
Canadian Family Physician logoLink to Canadian Family Physician
. 1990 Jan;36:62–65.

Effect of Devil's Club Tea on Blood Glucose Levels in Diabetes Mellitus

HV Thommasen, RA Wilson, RG McIlwain
PMCID: PMC2280323  PMID: 21249104

Abstract

Devil's club (Oplopanax horridum) is a popular medicinal plant used by Native Indian tribes in the Pacific Northwest. One reported indication for using this plant is in the treatment of diabetes mellitus. Several physicians have reported patients with diabetes who were able to maintain normal blood glucose levels while taking devil's club preparations. The authors performed a pilot study in which blood glucose levels were carefully monitored in an insulin-dependent diabetic patient, a newly diagnosed non-insulin-dependent diabetic, and two healthy adults while they drank devil's club tea. The limited data do not show any hypoglycemic effect of devil's club tea.

Keywords: diabetes mellitus, family medicine, Native American medicine, traditional medicine

Full text

PDF
62

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Deagle G. Traditional west coast native medicine. Can Fam Physician. 1988 Jul;34:1577–1580. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Large R. G., Brocklesby H. N. A HYPOGLYCAEMIC SUBSTANCE FROM THE ROOTS OF THE DEVIL'S CLUB (FATSIA HORRIDA). Can Med Assoc J. 1938 Jul;39(1):32–35. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Canadian Family Physician are provided here courtesy of College of Family Physicians of Canada

RESOURCES