Common Name: Gurmar

General Information

Gymnema sylvestre is a climbing plant, producing stems up to 3 metres long. The stems scramble over the ground, climbing into the surrounding vegetation.
Gumar is a well-known Ayurvedic herb with a very good reputation in the treatment of diabetes and is also used as a green vegetale. It is gathered from the wild for local use and is also sold in local markets as a food and a medicine[, ]. The plant is widely used in India and is also commonly sold in other countries of the world, usually via the Internet.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Africa - Mauritania to Ethiopia, south to S. Africa; through Arabia to India, Sri Lanka, China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia.

Habitat

Secondary forest, riverine forest and dry shrub savannah, usually on sandy or loamy soils. It occurs scattered and is locally abundant and common[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Habit	Climber
Height	3.00 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

The plant grows best in areas with a well-distributed rainfall of 600 - 1,000mm annually[].

Edible Uses

Leaves - raw or cooked[]. Eaten as a vegetable or added to soups[]. The leaves, for a short while after being eaten, have the ability to make even bitter foods taste sweet[]. In India and China the bitter leaves are known as ‘sugar destroyer’, as the taste for sweetness is blocked for some time[].

Fruit - cooked[]. It is roasted then peeled and eaten, after discarding the seeds. The taste is similar to that of potatoes[].

Medicinal

Gurmar is an important, bitter-tasting Ayurvedic herb that is used especially to reduce blood sugar levels in diabetics[]. Both roots and leaves can be used[].
The plant contains a group of oleanane type triterpenoid saponins known as gymnemic acids, a complex mixture of at least 9 closely related acidic glycosides, which have taste-modifying activity; and gurmarin, which is a sweet taste-suppressing polypeptide. When the leaf is chewed, the ability to taste sweetness is lost temporarily[].
Studies have demonstrated that the leaf powder may exert an antidiabetic effect via a number of pathways, including decreasing the uptake of glucose from the small intestine; improvements in glycogen synthesis, glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, and hepatic and muscle glucose uptake; as well as the reversal of haemoglobin and plasma protein glycosylation[].

The plant is antidote, astringent, diuretic, emetic, hypoglycaemic, purgative, refrigerant, stomachic and tonic[]. It is used particularly to reduce sugar levels in the blood and urine[]. All parts are used for the treatment of rheumatism, blood-vessel inflammation, haemorrhoids, and snake bites[].

The leaves are used in the treatment of fevers and coughs[]. The powdered leaf is considered to help curb cravings for sweets and to have lipid lowering effects, it is added to food additives as a weight loss remedy[]. The powder also helps in preventing caries[].
Applied externally the leaves are combined with castor oil and used as a poultice to treat swollen glands[].

The roots are considered to be a useful antidote to snakebite - they are applied to the wound as a powder, made into a paste with water or given internally as a decoction[, ]. The pounded and cooked roots are added to food and eaten as a treatment for epilepsy[].
The pounded cooked root or root powder is applied externally to treat boils[].

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed - it has a short period of viability and so should be sown as soon as it is ripe[].

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