Fact Check: Can a bitter concoction of 10 types of leaves cure diabetes?

Hyderabad: A video claiming that a concoction of 10 different leaves is the ultimate magical potion to cure diabetes has gone viral on social media.

The narrator in the video claims that you can completely cure diabetes and also stop taking allopathic diabetic medicines just by drinking a concoction of 10 leaves including gooseberry leaves, neem leaves, hibiscus leaves, black plum leaves, guava leaves, mango leaves, sweet neem leaves, peepal leaves, giloy leaves and bel leaves two times a day.

Is it safe to drink such a green leafy cocktail? Let’s find out.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the claim is false.

What is diabetes?

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases describes diabetes as a disease that occurs when your blood glucose, also called blood sugar, is too high. Glucose is your body’s main source of energy. Your body can make glucose, but glucose also comes from the food you eat.

Diabetes raises the risk of damage to the eyes, kidneys, nerves, and heart. Diabetes is also linked to some types of cancer. Taking steps to prevent or manage diabetes may lower your risk of developing diabetes health problems.

According to Medical News Today, there is no cure for diabetes. However, it is possible to control blood sugar levels in your body by adopting a proper diet and lifestyle. By doing this, your disease can go into remission. When diabetes goes into remission, it means that the body does not show any signs of diabetes, although the disease is technically still present.

We further contacted Dr Umesh Wadhavani, a Nutritionist and Wellness coach, to debunk the claim. He said, “Usually people tend to rely on such home remedies like drinking leafy cocktails, as seen in this viral video, to cure diabetes at home. This is pseudo-science.”

“They believe that just because diabetes is caused by something sweet, consuming something bitter will cure it or balance it, which might help on a temporary basis but giving up on medication and relying on unscientific remedies might affect health. We need to understand that diabetes is more or less dependent on your lifestyle and diet. If you lack sleep, have a sedentary lifestyle, have a lot of unmanaged stress, eat a lot of carbohydrates and sugar and do not eat protein-rich food, then there is a higher risk of diabetes,” he said.

Hence, this concoction of leaves cannot help cure diabetes. Only a balanced healthy lifestyle, diet and genetic condition can prevent diabetes.