Abstract
The blood concentration of 1, 5-anhydro-D-glucitol (1, 5-AG) has been used asa marker for diabetic control. In diabetic patients, high urine glucose competes the absorption of1, 5-AG at renal tubules and lowers its blood concentration. In general, the major source of 1, 5-AG is food and daily in take was reported to be relatively stable in Japan. Although Chinese medicines have been traditionally and widely used for many kinds of disease, it is less known well that one of their components, especially polygalae radix, contains large amounts of 1, 5-AG. We examined the effect of an extract of polygalae radix and ninjinyouei-to (TJ-108) on the blood concentration of 1, 5-AG in 5 healthy volunteers and 13 patients including those with diabetes mellitus.We found that both the extract of polygalae radix and TJ-108 increase 1, 5-AG without affecting glucose metabolism.Chinese medicines containing polygalae radix should thus be better evaluated in 1, 5-AG blood concentration as a marker of diabetic control.
