Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels in the treatment of type 2 diabetes: results of a randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, controlled trial.

Tea, ex tracts, solutions, and other preparations from plants with a putative antihypergly cemic effect have a worldwide utilization in the treatment of diabetes (1). Among them, the tea prepared from leaves of jambolan [Syzygium jambos (L.) Alst or Syzyguium cumini (L.) Skeels] is largely used in our city (2) and elsewhere (3). We demonstrated that the tea and extracts from different parts of the plant had no effect in normal rats (4), rats with streptozotocininduced diabetes (5), and normal v olunteers (6). A n antihy perglycemic effect in patients with diabetes, howev er, could not be ruled out, since its mechanism of action could depend on specific abnormalities of diabetes in humans.