Combo of Chinese medicine formulae containing Fuling and hypoglycaemic agents improves Diabetes control

Australia: A recent meta-analysis has presented clinical evidence and review of Fuling formulae for managing Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM).

The study has concluded that for T2DM patients, traditional Chinese medicine formulae containing Fuling in combination with conventional therapies have added advantages compared to the hypoglycaemic agents used alone.

The findings of the study are published in PLOS ONE.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, DM is in the "xiao ke" category, characterised by thirst, excessive drinking, polyuria and weight loss.

Poria or Fuling (Poria cocos )is an edible mushroom with medicinal properties. The herb has a hypoglycemic function. It has been used for the management of diabetes in TCM for many years.

Fuling is among the ten most frequently prescribed herbs among those 30 formulas approved by the State Food and Drugs Administrator of China for diabetes management.

Based on the above background, a research team conducted a review. The lead author was Dr Yuan Ming Di from the China-Australia International Research Centre for Chinese Medicine from the School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, RMIT University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia, to assess the benefits of this herb in T2DM patients.

The authors mentioned that in Traditional Chinese Medicine, single herb use is uncommon, and generally, herbal formulas are used to treat a disease.

The study points are:

· The review included five English and four Chinese medical databases (from inception to August 2021).

· The RCTs included herbal formulae containing Fuling for T2DM.

· The data analysis was done using Stata software 13.0

· Overall, Seventy-three RCTs were included.

· Total of 6,489 participants were present.

· The age of the participants was 20 to 85.82 years.

· T2DM duration ranged from 2 weeks to 20.1 years.

· The duration of treatment ranged from 4 to 25 weeks.

· Four studies' follow-up periods ranged from 2 weeks to 3 months.

· The evidence strength was low to moderate.

· There was a reduction in fasting blood glucose with MD of -0.82 , thereby benefitting T2D patients taking a formula containing Fuling and a hypoglycaemic agent.

· The 2-hour postprandial blood glucose had MD of -1.15  and haemoglobin A1c with MD of -0.64.

· Integrative group had lower adverse effects than the hypoglycaemic alone group, with an RR of 0.99

A combination of Fuling formulae and metformin creates the biggest pool when included studies are grouped, they mentioned.

They said formulae containing Fuling in combination with conventional therapies have added benefits and improve necessary outcome measures, including Fasting Blood Glucose, 2-hour Plasma Glucose, HbA1c, Total Cholesterol, LDL, and HDL in people with T2DM.

Further reading:

Di YM et al. Benefits of herbal formulae containing Poria cocos (Fuling) for type 2 diabetes mellitus: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One. 2022 Dec 1;17(12):e0278536.