Jiaogulan
Encyclopedia
Herbaceous
A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...
vine
Vine
A vine in the narrowest sense is the grapevine , but more generally it can refer to any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent, that is to say climbing, stems or runners...
of the family Cucurbitaceae
Cucurbitaceae
The plant family Cucurbitaceae consists of various squashes, melons, and gourds, including crops such as cucumber, pumpkins, luffas, and watermelons...
(cucumber
Cucumber
The cucumber is a widely cultivated plant in the gourd family Cucurbitaceae, which includes squash, and in the same genus as the muskmelon. The plant is a creeping vine which bears cylindrical edible fruit when ripe. There are three main varieties of cucumber: "slicing", "pickling", and...
or gourd
Gourd
A gourd is a plant of the family Cucurbitaceae. Gourd is occasionally used to describe crops like cucumbers, squash, luffas, and melons. The term 'gourd' however, can more specifically, refer to the plants of the two Cucurbitaceae genera Lagenaria and Cucurbita or also to their hollow dried out shell...
family) indigenous to the southern reaches of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, northern Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, southern Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
, and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Jiaogulan is best known as an herbal medicine reputed to have powerful antioxidant
Antioxidant
An antioxidant is a molecule capable of inhibiting the oxidation of other molecules. Oxidation is a chemical reaction that transfers electrons or hydrogen from a substance to an oxidizing agent. Oxidation reactions can produce free radicals. In turn, these radicals can start chain reactions. When...
and adaptogen
Adaptogen
An adaptogen is a herbal product claimed to increase resistance to stress, trauma, anxiety and fatigue. The term is used mainly by herbalists who also refer to adaptogens as rejuvenating herbs, qi tonics, rasayanas, or restoratives...
ic effects purported to increase longevity. Clinical research has indicated a number of therapeutic qualities of Jiaogulan, such as lowering cholesterol and high blood pressure, strengthening immunity, and inhibiting cancer growth.
Description
Jiaogulan belongs to the genus Gynostemma, in the family CucurbitaceaeCucurbitaceae
The plant family Cucurbitaceae consists of various squashes, melons, and gourds, including crops such as cucumber, pumpkins, luffas, and watermelons...
, which includes cucumbers, gourds, and melons, although it lacks the characteristic fruit. It is a climbing vine, attaching itself to supports using tendrils. The serrated leaves commonly grow in groups of five (as in G. pentaphyllum) although some species can have groups of three or seven leaves. The plant is dioecious
Dioecious
Dioecy is the property of a group of biological organisms that have males and females, but not members that have organs of both sexes at the same time. I.e., those whose individual members can usually produce only one type of gamete; each individual organism is thus distinctly female or male...
, meaning each plant exists either as male or female. Therefore, if seeds are desired, both a male and female plant must be grown.
Taxonomy
Gynostemma pentaphyllum is known as Jiaogulan ( "twisting-vine-orchid") in China. The plant was first described in 1406 CE by Zhu Xiao, who presented a description and sketch in the book Materia Medica for Famine as a survival food rather than a medicinal herb. The earliest record of jiaogulan's use as a drug comes from herbalist Li Shi-Zhen's book Compendium of Meteria Medica published in 1578, identifying jiaogulan for treating various ailments such as hematuria, edema in the pharynx and neck, tumors, and trauma. While Li Shi-Zhen had confused jiaogulan with an analogous herb Wulianmei, in 1848 Wu Qi-Jun rectified this confusion in Textual Investigation of Herbal Plants, which also added more information on medicinal usage.Modern recognition of the plant outside of China originated from research in sugar substitute
Sugar substitute
A sugar substitute is a food additive that duplicates the effect of sugar in taste, usually with less food energy. Some sugar substitutes are natural and some are synthetic. Those that are not natural are, in general, called artificial sweeteners....
s. In the 1970s, while analyzing the sweet component of the jiaogulan plant (known as amachazuru in Japan), Dr. Masahiro Nagai discovered chemical compounds identical to some of those found in Panax ginseng, an unrelated plant. Afterward, Dr. Tsunematsu Takemoto discovered that jiaogulan contains four saponin
Saponin
Saponins are a class of chemical compounds, one of many secondary metabolites found in natural sources, with saponins found in particular abundance in various plant species...
s identical to those in Panax ginseng as well as seventeen other similar saponins. Over the next decade 82 saponins (gypenosides) were identified in jiaogulan, compared to the 28 (ginsenosides) found in Panax ginseng.
Distribution and habitat
Over thirty species of Gynostemma are known to grow throughout China, predominantly in the Southwest, although most species exist in at least one other country. The species G. pentaphyllum has the widest distribution outside of China, ranging from India to Southeast Asia to Japan and Korea.Jiaogulan is a vine hardy to USDA zone
Hardiness zone
A hardiness zone is a geographically defined area in which a specific category of plant life is capable of growing, as defined by climatic conditions, including its ability to withstand the minimum temperatures of the zone...
8 in which it may grow as a short lived perennial plant
Perennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...
. It can be grown as an annual in most temperate climates, in well-drained soil with full sun. It does not grow well in cold climates with temperatures below freezing.
Use in ethnomedicine
The plant is best known for its use as an herbal medicine. It has not seen widespread use in traditional Chinese medicineTraditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese Medicine refers to a broad range of medicine practices sharing common theoretical concepts which have been developed in China and are based on a tradition of more than 2,000 years, including various forms of herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage , exercise , and dietary therapy...
(TCM) because it grows far from central China where TCM evolved; consequently, it was not included in the standard pharmacopoeia
Pharmacopoeia
Pharmacopoeia, pharmacopeia, or pharmacopoea, , in its modern technical sense, is a book containing directions for the identification of samples and the preparation of compound medicines, and published by the authority of a government or a medical or pharmaceutical society.In a broader sense it is...
of the TCM system. Until recently it was a locally-known herb used primarily in mountainous regions of southern China and in northern Vietnam. It is described by the local inhabitants as the "immortality herb", because people within Guizhou
Guizhou
' is a province of the People's Republic of China located in the southwestern part of the country. Its provincial capital city is Guiyang.- History :...
Province, where jiaogulan tea is consumed regularly, are said have a history of unusual longevity.
Jiaogulan is most often consumed as an herbal tea, and is also available as an alcohol extract and in capsule or pill form.
Antioxidant
Jiaogulan has been found to increase superoxide dismutaseSuperoxide dismutase
Superoxide dismutases are a class of enzymes that catalyze the dismutation of superoxide into oxygen and hydrogen peroxide. As such, they are an important antioxidant defense in nearly all cells exposed to oxygen...
(SOD), which is a powerful endogenous cellular antioxidant
Antioxidant
An antioxidant is a molecule capable of inhibiting the oxidation of other molecules. Oxidation is a chemical reaction that transfers electrons or hydrogen from a substance to an oxidizing agent. Oxidation reactions can produce free radicals. In turn, these radicals can start chain reactions. When...
. Studies have found it increases the activities of macrophage
Macrophage
Macrophages are cells produced by the differentiation of monocytes in tissues. Human macrophages are about in diameter. Monocytes and macrophages are phagocytes. Macrophages function in both non-specific defense as well as help initiate specific defense mechanisms of vertebrate animals...
s, T lymphocytes and natural killer cells and that it acts as a tumor inhibitor.
Adaptogen
Jiaogulan is known as an adaptogenAdaptogen
An adaptogen is a herbal product claimed to increase resistance to stress, trauma, anxiety and fatigue. The term is used mainly by herbalists who also refer to adaptogens as rejuvenating herbs, qi tonics, rasayanas, or restoratives...
, which is an herb reputed to help the body to maintain optimal homeostasis
Homeostasis
Homeostasis is the property of a system that regulates its internal environment and tends to maintain a stable, constant condition of properties like temperature or pH...
. Its chemical constituents include the triterpenoid saponins
Triterpenoid saponins
Triterpenoid saponins are triterpenes which belong to the group of saponin compounds. Triterpenes belong to a large group of compounds arranged in a four or five ring configuration of 30 carbons with several oxygens attached. Triterpenes are assembled from a C5 isoprene unit through the cytosolic...
gypenosides which are closely structurally related to the ginsenoside
Ginsenoside
Ginsenosides are a class of steroid glycosides, and triterpene saponins, found exclusively in the plant genus Panax .Ginsenosides have been the target of research, as they are viewed as the active compounds behind the claims of ginseng's efficacy...
s which are present in ginseng
Ginseng
Ginseng is any one of eleven species of slow-growing perennial plants with fleshy roots, belonging to the genus Panax of the family Araliaceae....
. Most research has been done since the 1960s when the Chinese realized that it might be an inexpensive source of adaptogenic compounds, taking pressure off of the ginseng stock. Adaptogenic effects include regulating blood pressure and the immune system, improving stamina and endurance. Jiaogulan is also believed to be useful in combination with codonopsis
Codonopsis
Codonopsis is a genus of flowering plant within the family Campanulaceae. It is allied to Campanumoea and Leptocodon, and some authors suggest that Codonopsis should include these genera...
for jet lag
Jet lag
Jet lag, medically referred to as desynchronosis, is a physiological condition which results from alterations to the body's circadian rhythms; it is classified as one of the circadian rhythm sleep disorders...
and altitude sickness
Altitude sickness
Altitude sickness—also known as acute mountain sickness , altitude illness, hypobaropathy, or soroche—is a pathological effect of high altitude on humans, caused by acute exposure to low partial pressure of oxygen at high altitude...
.
Blood pressure
The adaptogenic nature of gypenosides have been found lower hypertensionHypertension
Hypertension or high blood pressure is a cardiac chronic medical condition in which the systemic arterial blood pressure is elevated. What that means is that the heart is having to work harder than it should to pump the blood around the body. Blood pressure involves two measurements, systolic and...
and raise hypotension
Hypotension
In physiology and medicine, hypotension is abnormally low blood pressure, especially in the arteries of the systemic circulation. It is best understood as a physiologic state, rather than a disease. It is often associated with shock, though not necessarily indicative of it. Hypotension is the...
, keeping blood pressure
Blood pressure
Blood pressure is the pressure exerted by circulating blood upon the walls of blood vessels, and is one of the principal vital signs. When used without further specification, "blood pressure" usually refers to the arterial pressure of the systemic circulation. During each heartbeat, BP varies...
in a normal range. Laboratory tests demonstrate that jiaogulan stimulates the release of nitric oxide
Nitric oxide
Nitric oxide, also known as nitrogen monoxide, is a diatomic molecule with chemical formula NO. It is a free radical and is an important intermediate in the chemical industry...
, causing blood vessels to relax; this is one proposed mechanism by which jiaogulan reduces high blood pressure. In a double-blind study, gypenosides administered to with Grade II hypertension showed 82% effectiveness in reducing hypertension, compared to 46% for ginseng and 93% for Indapamide
Indapamide
Indapamide is a thiazide diuretic drug marketed by Servier, generally used in the treatment of hypertension, as well as decompensated cardiac failure. The US trade name for indapamide is Lozol. Indapamide is marketed as Natrilix outside of the US, as Insig in Australia...
(a hypertension medication).
Cardiovascular functions
Animal studies as well as clinical testing on humans suggest that jiaogulan, when combined with other herbs, has beneficial effects on cardiovascular system, increasing heart stroke volume, coronary flow, and cardiac output while reducing the heart rate, without affecting arterial pressure.Cholesterol reduction
Numerous clinical studies in Chinese medical literature have shown that jiagolan lowers serum cholesterol, triglycerides, and LDL (the "bad" cholesterol) while raising HDL ("good" cholesterol) levels, with reported effectiveness rates ranging from 67% to 93%.Diabetes
Gynostemma pentaphyllum tea has been studied in a randomized controlled trial in type 2 diabetic patients. It may have potential as a hypoglycemic treatment to reduce blood glucose.Alternate names
Western languages such as English and German commonly refer to the plant as jiaogulan. Other names include:- ChineseChinese languageThe Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
: xiancao (仙草, literally "immortal grass"; more accurately "herb of immortality") - EnglishEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
: five-leaf ginseng, poor man's ginseng, miracle grass, fairy herb, sweet tea vine, gospel herb, Southern Ginseng - JapaneseJapanese languageis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
: amachazuru (kanjiKanjiKanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
: 甘茶蔓; hiraganaHiraganais a Japanese syllabary, one basic component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and the Latin alphabet . Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, in which each character represents one mora...
: あまちゃずる; literally 甘いamai=sweet, tasty 茶 cha=tea, 蔓 zuru=vine, creeping plant) - Korean languageKorean languageKorean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
: dungkulcha (덩굴차) or dolwe (돌외) - LatinLatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
: Gynostemma pentaphyllum or Vitis pentaphyllum - Taiwanese: sencauw
- Tay languageTay peopleThe Tày people speak a language of the Central Tai language group, and live in northern Vietnam. They are sometimes also called Thô, T'o, Tai Tho, Ngan, Phen, Thu Lao, or Pa Di....
: zan tong - ThaiThai languageThai , also known as Central Thai and Siamese, is the national and official language of Thailand and the native language of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Tai–Kadai language family. Historical linguists have been unable to definitively...
: jiaogulan (เจียวกู่หลาน) - VietnameseVietnamese languageVietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...
: giảo cổ lam or bổ đắng (bổ= nutritious, đắng=bitter) - PortuguesePortuguese languagePortuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
: cipó-doce
Jiaogulan tea is also marketed in the United States under the trade names Panta tea or Penta tea, depending on the supplier.
External links
- http://www.drugdigest.org/wps/portal/!ut/p/c1/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3hjA3cDA3dnz1ADN09jA08LD18LH8cgoKihfjhIh1m8AQ7gaKDv55Gfm6pfkJ1XDgA3455Z/dl2/d1/L0lJSklLVUtVSklKSkpDZ3BSQ2dwUkEhIS9vSHd3QUFBWVFBQUVJSWdsRVU1QUFHTVlJU0pLMHJVbEdzYTBqQSEhL1lCcHhKRl9ON0R3NDEwLTRrc3V5cjBzbnl2dyEvNl8zMEcwMEdDSVUwRkkzMEk4SE04TEFSMzBHMS83XzMwRzAwR0NJVTBGSTMwSThITThMQVIzMDgyL25vcm1hbC92aWV3L3NlYXJjaC9zdGVwL3NlYXJjaER2aA!!/?searchString=jiaogulan&x=0&y=0&select_category=3Gynostemma at Drug Digest]
- History of Jiaogulan