Tropical Traditions has introduced the first full-profile banaba-leaf herb extract for lowering blood sugar. Banaba is a popular medicine plant in the Philippines and is used in treatment of diabetes mellitus. Numerous studies have been done on this remarkable herb, much of it in Japan, with researchers such as Dr. Yamazaki, professor of Pharmaceutical Science, Hiroshima University School of Medicine, showing that the active component in banaba was corosolic acid. His studies indicate that corosolic acid activates the transport of glucose across cell membranes, resulting in blood sugar reductions.

Following the studies done by the Japanese which isolated corosolic acid as the active component, other studies followed. In 1999 a clinical study was conducted on diabetes patients by Dr. William V. Judy at the Southeastern Institute of Biomedical Research, Bradenton, Florida, which found that corosolic acid universally lowered blood sugar levels of all patients. The higher the dosage of corosolic acid, the lower blood sugar levels dropped.

However, more recent studies have shown that the entire herb is useful in lowering blood sugar, and that corosolic acid is probably not the only active ingredient in banaba leaves. A study published in 2001 by Edison Biotechnology Institute, Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Osteopathic Medicine, in Athens, Ohio compared a whole leaf extract of banaba with insulin in cell cultures. They concluded that the whole herb had a glucose lowering effect and could be used to fight diabetes and obesity. A study reported in the Feb. 2002 volume of Planta Med stated that corosolic acid alone could not account for the glucose transport effect of banaba extracts, and identified at least three active components.

However, most supplements available on the market today that contain banaba extract have only corosolic acid extract. Tropical Traditions is one of the first to offer a full herb supplement made from wild organic banaba leaves. Doctors in the Philippines have been using banaba to successfully treat diabetes patients for years. Tropical Traditions has been producing banaba capsules for four years in the Philippines, and they have been used by Dr. Marie Onate, in her hospital in Lucena City successfully during that time among her diabetes patients. Their new product, a fully standardized full-profile herbal extract of banaba, and a standardized corosolic acid extract packaged together in vegicaps, was introduced in the US March 2003.

Because of the way banaba helps the body to handle glucose (glucose transport activator), it is also used effectively in weight-loss products. Supplementwatch.com says: "An interesting 'side-effect' of tighter control of blood sugar and insulin levels is a significant tendency of banaba to promote weight loss (an average of 2-4 lbs. per month) without significant dietary alterations. It is likely that modulation of glucose and insulin levels reduces total caloric intake somewhat and encourages moderate weight loss."