Can an herb have magical powers?
Well, no. But gyneostemma has such powerful effects on our body that it may as well be magic.
On today’s episode of the Health Quest podcast, Dr. Sal is talking about this miracle herb and the many benefits it offers.
Gynostemma is an herb that has long been used in Southeast Asia for its medicinal properties. Rich in antioxidants, it has been shown to improve resistance to DNA damage, support heart health, and provide cardiovascular support. It contributes to overall well-being by reducing anxiety and stress, and it can also help in metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes and obesity.
This powerful herb works through two key mechanisms, AMPK and PTP1b, which play roles in regulating glucose, fat, and energy metabolism in the body. When combined with a healthy diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes, this herb has the potential to positively impact your health and well-being.
Key takeaways:
1. Gyneostemma pentaphyllum, an herb used in folk medicine, has shown to contain valuable constituents similar to ginseng and rich in antioxidants. It is known to contribute to heart health, improve resistance to DNA damage, and provide cardiovascular support.
2. Gyneostemma pentaphyllum works to improve metabolic disorders such as obesity and type 2 diabetes through two main mechanisms – AMPK (AMP Kinase) and PTP1B (protein Tyronase phosphatase 1b). These mechanisms help in increasing energy expenditure, improving insulin sensitivity, and enhancing glucose tolerance.
3. The podcast emphasizes the importance of making dietary changes, including restricted calorie intake, elimination of refined sugars and carbohydrates, and implementing exercise, in combination with the use of gyneostemma for improved health outcomes.
4. Dr. Sal shares his personal recommendation of taking 500 milligrams of gyneostemma extract per day by adding it to his daily coffee intake. The studies showed that individuals who were obese and had type 2 diabetes benefited from taking 3 to 6 grams (3000 to 6000 milligrams) of gyneostemma per day.
5. The episode underscores the importance of healthy dietary habits, including lean proteins, healthy fats, high fiber carbohydrates from vegetables and low glycemic fruits, in conjunction with the use of gyneostemma to improve fat metabolism, insulin sensitivity, and overall health.
Find transcripts, videos, and more at http://www.drsalhealth.com or send a question to be answered on a future episode to [email protected].
Dr. Sal [00:00:00]:
You've got increased energy. You start to increase fat metabolism. You increase insulin sensitivity, and this all results in weight loss and correction of your blood Welcome to the Health Quest Podcast, your guide to God's will for good health. Hello. I'm doctor Sal, and I've been a practicing doctor and surgeon for well over 30 years. My goal for each episode is that you'll be able to have your mind transformed to God's design for good health and in a way affect the way you eat, and the way that you live. If you're new here, we release a new episode every week. And if you enjoy the content, Would you please leave us a good review? It really helps our ratings and allows to reach more people and in turn health those people change your lives.
Dr. Sal [00:01:03]:
We'd like to thank you for your support. And on today's episode, we'll be talking about gyneostemma. So let's dive right on into today's Healthquest podcast. Ganostemma pentafilum is an herb that grows in the southeastern part of Asia, particularly in the mountainous regions of South China and North Vietnam. It's used in folk medicine as an herb tea, and it's categorized in the cucumber family. Although it's it's really a leafy vine. And the constituents that are in it are very similar to ginseng which contain phyllosterols. It has saponins except in gynostemma.
Dr. Sal [00:01:54]:
It has this gypenside saponins in flavonoids. It's rich in antioxidants, and it improves the resistance to DNA damage which can eventually result in mutations and cause cancer. It contributes to heart health and provides cardiovascular support, and it does that by inhibiting the formation of blood clots. It works to support the brain. Overall, it helps to improve your mood and well-being. It's shown to reduce anxiety and stress. So now how can it help in metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes and in obesity. Well, gyneostema, pentafilum works by 2 mechanisms.
Dr. Sal [00:02:37]:
Number 1, AMPK, and number 2, PTP one b. So these are 2 mechanisms and these are just abbreviations. But the first mechanism is AMPK or AMP Kinase. And AMP Kinase is an enzyme which is a key sensor regulator of glucose, fat, and energy metabolism throughout the body. The activation of this kinase improves metabolic abnormalities by increasing beta oxidation or the breakdown of fats. So when it it starts to improve this abnormal breakdown of I mean, build up a fat and actually reverses it so it starts to break down fat to be used as energy. It increases glucose uptake. In other words, it it gets the glucose out of the bloodstream and into the muscles in the liver where it belongs and it does this by increasing GLUT 4 which is a like a little door that sits inside every cell and it gets translocated or gets moved to the plasma membrane where it's like you're putting up a new door in the wall so that they can open up and allow for blood sugar to get into the cells where it belongs.
Dr. Sal [00:03:55]:
Now AMPK is actually increase as far as its activity by that hormone that we had discussed before called leptin. Now Leptin is secreted by the fat health. So the more fat we actually have, the more leptin we secrete. But remember when we talked about this on one of our previous This podcast that what ends up happening is is, yes, we put on all this fat. We become overweight or obese. And then what ends up happening is we're putting out all this leptin but just like putting out too much, insulin, we develop a resistance to the leptin. So overeating leads to buildup of more leptin, but over time, we develop a resistance. Now leptin doesn't work and it doesn't work on the AMPK.
Dr. Sal [00:04:47]:
We know that insulin is not working because now we're insulin as well. And this is how we develop this ectopic storage of fat. In other words, fat that's getting stored in the wrong cells such as the muscle cells or in the liver. And this is what we've called before in previous podcasts lipotoxicity. Actually, that's the term that we use when fat gets stored in the wrong places. There are Act, actaponins supponins called damulin a and damulin b, which are found and gyneostemma extract. And these have been shown through numerous studies to naturally activate AMPK and deactivate Acetyl Coenzyme A Carboxylase. Now this Acetyl CoA Carboxylase is an enzyme that actually builds up fat in cells.
Dr. Sal [00:05:44]:
So the these saponins that are in the evades the AMPK, and deactivates the Acetyl CoA carboxylase which builds up the fat in the cells where AMPK starts to increase beta oxidation or the breakdown of fat. Now with a restricted calorie intake, elimination of refined sugars and carbohydrates, an implementation of exercise. This combined with the fat burning processes in the muscle and the liver, and now the insulin pathway We can now act appropriately to allow glucose into the muscle cells where it belongs and eliminate it from the circulating blood where if you get an excess accumulation of sugars in the blood, it causes AGEs. Remember that term? That's That's an abbreviation for advanced glycosylated end products or glycosylation of proteins. Now this is where sugars start to bind to these proteins and then deactivate them. And so when it starts to happen at the cellular level, Sure. You're not gonna feel any pain. You're not gonna have any issues.
Dr. Sal [00:07:04]:
But over time, as it starts to build up more and more and more, It's like termites eating your the wood in your house. Sure. It looks fine because you've got, you know, drywall so you can't really see what's going up be behind the drywall. As as the wood starts to deteriorate, eventually, the house starts to collapse. Now at this point, the insulin becomes more effective. So as we start getting these fat cells or fat out of the muscle cells, and liver. It allows for insulin to become more effective. It now reduces those blood sugars and we you know, we're on our way to a a better healthy lifestyle.
Dr. Sal [00:07:46]:
This is one of the ways in which gynostemma pentafilum can improve obesity, insulin resistance, or the early stages of type 2 diabetes. Now that's the one mechanism. So it goes through the AMPK mechanism, which then helps to break down the fat, and it starts to improve the blood sugars. Now the 2nd mechanism is through another enzyme, which is called protein Tyronase, phosphatase 1 b or PTP 1 b. And this is an enzyme that is a negative regulator of insulin signaling pathway. And what that means, in other words, is that it it basically when it's active, it keeps sugar or glucose from entering the cell. So this enzyme, when it's active, will prevent the insulin cascade of events that takes place to, you know, get that GLUT 4 to the membrane to open up the doors to allow sugar in. It it it actually deactivates that whole system.
Dr. Sal [00:08:53]:
It's almost like sticking a finger or a straw in a grandfather clock, you know, where you got all the wheels turning and and, you know, the springs that are moving up and down to keep everything perfectly timed. And you put a straw or you put like a wooden sliver in there and it stops the the whole thing. And that's what activating this enzyme, this PTP one b, will do. And that's how you start to prevent sugar from getting absorbed, and that's how you get the high blood sugars in the, in the circulation. So in And the way it does this is that this enzyme dephosphorylates or removes phosphates from the insulin receptor and other enzymes which then impairs their function. So again, by activating this enzyme you're pulling these spates, or phosphorus, which is an element. It's a mineral. And it pulls them off of these enzymes that are supposed to be work it's almost like me taking the tires off of your car when you're at work.
Dr. Sal [00:09:59]:
And then by the time you get you're on your way home, you find that your tires are missing and you can't go anywhere. And that's what this enzyme does. Well, gynostemma pentafilum with its actiponin Saponins inhibits or shuts down the activity of this PTP one b or this enzyme, which leads to enhanced insulin sensitivity, and improved glucose tolerance. So in one study, they showed where these mice had the p t, PTP enzyme completely removed. And these mice also had increased energy expenditure, or it increase their basal metabolic rate. So by reducing the effects of this one enzyme, this PTP one B, not only do you get improvement of the insulin, sensitivity so that your blood sugars can now become normal, but it also increases your metabolic rate and increases your energy expenditure. The way that this also results from an improved mitochondrial function, we're gonna talk about the mitochondria. It's one of the organelles in the body that generates energy for the cells.
Dr. Sal [00:11:17]:
And so by increasing your basal metabolic rate, you're basically increasing the function of the mitochondria. So one of the ways to increase this My mitochondrial function is from calorie restricted diet that is low in refined sugars and carbs and gets you into a ketogenic state. Now, you know, we keep repeating this over and over and over again. But Imagine you taking gynostemma and you're on a healthy diet. You've got increased energy. You start to increase fat metabolism. You increase insulin sensitivity, and this all results in weight loss and correction of your blood sugars. Now, I mean, what more can you ask for? This is this is leading you to God's path to good health.
Dr. Sal [00:12:11]:
Gotta remember something, folks. God doesn't cause disease in people. We do it to ourselves. And it's happening more and more and more. You start saying, oh, yeah. But look at this child. They were born with this genetic defect, and they die at the age of 20. Those are completely different situations, okay, where you were born without a limb.
Dr. Sal [00:12:34]:
That's a completely different situation. But You were born with all your faculties and then all of a sudden, you're eating garbage out there, which we're talking about modifying and stopping, and we're causing our own disorders. So so here's as I said, you know, you reduce your calories, get rid of those refined carbs and sugars. I mean and this is the action of your relationship with God to be able to say no. Remember, you know, the book of James, it's not just about talking or saying bad things and what you're putting out of your mouth, but it's also what you're taking in as well. I take about 500 milligrams of the, the Ganostemma extract per day, and what I do is I put it in my coffee I I've got a Cuisinart coffee maker, so it's a drip coffee. And I put it at the bottom of the filter, and then I put the coffee on top. Well and then I also put some cinnamon, some of the other stuff in there.
Dr. Sal [00:13:33]:
So what it does is it it dissolves and it goes into the coffee and so I get 500 milligrams of the, gynecoma per day. Now the research studies, that were done on individuals that were Obese and had type 2 diabetes, they were taking 3 to 6 grams. That's 3 to 6000 milligrams of canisterma per day, and it helped to improve their insulin sensitivity. So they reverse their type 2 diabetes, and then they started losing weight. But remember, you can't just take these supplements without changing your lifestyle. So you got to remember that nothing supplants, the diet and how you eat. Good dietary habits, eating lean proteins, healthy fats, your omega 3 fatty acids like your fish oil, cooking and you're using olive oil. Now, If you're gonna cook at high temperatures, use the avocado oil.
Dr. Sal [00:14:36]:
Use coconut oil as well. Your high fiber carbs, which comes from from your, your vegetables, and even your low glycemic fruits. Healthy fats. If we go back, I just want to mention your healthy, your your your nuts such as almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, pistachios, Combined with gynecoma increases fat metabolism, improves insulin sensitivity, increases energy, supports brain activity and mood, and improves the cardiovascular function, protects against free radicals that can cause cancer. Ladies and gentlemen, here's another way to help improve your health and live a healthy lifestyle without having to resort to taking medications. With that, I hope you enjoyed our show. Thank you so much for watching. If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to leave us a good review, and visit our website and social media accounts to connect with us more.
Dr. Sal [00:15:37]:
If you happen to have any questions about your health regarding this episode, My email will be in the description below, and I'd be happy to answer any of your questions. And if you'd like to see any of the sources of research in this This episode, it will be available in the show notes and description. Until next time, have a great day, and god bless.