Do not eat sage seeds to prevent diabetes

A 56-year-old woman and her 64-year-old husband in Kien Giang have a higher glycemic index than the general population, but because of fear of developing diabetes, they ate the seeds. She and her husband were given mung bean seeds by an acquaintance to plant and eat to treat diabetes. At first, she and her husband only ate about two nuts each day, then more and every day.

After 3 months of eating sage seeds, she and her husband felt tired, weak, weak limbs. She lost 15 kg, and her husband lost 10 kg. The disease progressed more and more, not only weak limbs but also paralyzed both legs and had to move in a wheelchair. Blood sample test results showed that she and her husband suspected heavy metal poisoning.

BS.CKI Huynh Van Eleven, Deputy Head of Emergency Department, Tam Anh General Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, said that the whole plant contains anthraquinone toxin, but it is concentrated in the seeds. Medicine has recorded them to be toxic to muscles and nerves, especially causing muscle necrosis, muscle degeneration, liver and brain damage and death in humans and animals. In the case of her husband and wife, poisoning for a long time caused muscle atrophy, leading to paralysis of all limbs.

According to Dr. Eleven, her husband and her husband are the first cases in Vietnam recorded poisoning with sage seeds. In addition to Vietnam, the world’s medical literature has announced that some Indian children also suffered from nut poisoning of this plant and died.

The plant is also known as cassava leaves, cassava leaves, core gases, seeds, and has the scientific name Senna occidentalis (also known as Cassia occidentalis L.) belonging to the legume family – Fabaceae. This is a tropical shrub, about 1-2m tall, growing wild along roadsides from north to south, lawns and also planted.

The tree grows 1-2m high, the feathery compound leaves consist of 5-8 pairs of oval leaflets like star fruit leaves. Unlike the large-leaved cassava tree, which often lives near the water’s edge; The starfruit tree has smaller leaves. The flowers are yellow like those of other legumes and grow in clusters at the leaf axils or at the tips of the branches in September. The fruit is flat, slightly curved, 15 cm long, constricted between the seeds. In the plant there are anthraquinone compounds, flavonoids and mucilage; There is also a toxic albumin.

Doctor Eleven further shared, according to traditional medicine, sage leaves have the effect of clearing heat, anti-inflammatory, laxative, easy to digest… not used to treat diabetes. Although it has common medicinal properties, the whole plant is poisonous, so when used as medicine, it is necessary to consult a doctor. Common symptoms of poisoning are diarrhea, vomiting, … especially pregnant women should not use this plant.

“For people with diabetes, treatment must be regularly tested to monitor blood sugar levels, avoiding dangerous complications, not using oral and folk remedies. People with high blood sugar, but If you haven’t reached the level of diabetes, you should change your lifestyle to avoid the disease progressing to diabetes, especially by following a healthy diet and exercising,” added Dr. Eleven.

Diabetics prefer unsaturated fatty acids from food sources such as salmon, tuna, mackerel, soybean oil, peanut oil… to avoid metabolic disorders. Increase green vegetables, low-sweet fruits to help provide fiber, vitamins and minerals. Ideally, diabetics need to divide meals (5-6 meals per day) to avoid excessive postprandial hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia when far from meals.

Patients need to limit starch (carbohydrate) in meals; foods containing simple sugars (cakes, candies, soft drinks); Use the right amount of fat. People with diabetes with cardiovascular complications should limit salt, foods high in cholesterol such as skin, fat (except fish fat), animal organs, fried, fried, grilled and fast food.

Dinh Tien