Investigating the effect of Taraxacum officinale L. root extract on the treatment of type 2 diabetic patients

In type 2 diabetes, the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, or the insulin it produces does not work properly. Type 2 diabetes, also known as insulin-independent diabetes, is the most common type of diabetes in the world, which usually occurs due to the resistance of the body's cells to insulin. Many useful compounds in dandelion (Taraxacum officinale L.) increase insulin production and reduce blood sugar levels. In the present research, the effect of an aqueous dandelion root extract on blood sugar level reduction in type 2 diabetic patients in Mashhad was studied. After cleaning and removing impurities, the dandelion roots were dried on a grinding machine. Extraction from dandelion roots was performed with the Soxhlet apparatus. After the extraction process, the resulting extract was passed through a filter to separate the solid compounds. The prepared extract was consumed as tea twice a day by the selected diabetic patient for four days. A glucometer measured the diabetic patient's blood sugar level. Each day, blood sugar level measurement was performed for one hour and two hours (to study stability) after taking the second dose of the extract. The patient did not use supplements or drugs to lower blood sugar levels during the research. Since blood sugar fluctuations in fasting conditions at the beginning of each day depend on various factors such as mental, physical, nutritional, and especially nervous conditions, to reduce the error rate, fasting blood sugar was measured as a control one month before and one month after extract consumption. Present research showed that blood sugar decreases significantly with the increase in the number of days of dandelion root extract consumption and the increase in the frequency of consumption per day. Based on the data obtained from the measurement of blood sugar levels in different time intervals, the four-day average blood sugar level of a diabetic person one month before consuming the extract was 233, which decreased by 81 units one month after consuming the extract and reached 152; Therefore, based on the obtained results, the consumption of the root extract of this plant causes a 35% decrease in blood sugar. A study of the interaction effect of the number of days of using dandelion root extract and the time of its use also showed that the simultaneous reduction of blood sugar level with increasing the number of days of extract consumption and the number of times of consumption per day is significant. The results of the analysis of variance for the response of blood sugar levels also indicated that the effect of factors A (number of days of extract use) and B (hours of extract use) with a P-value much lower than 0.05, on the reduction of blood sugar level is significant. Based on the numerical optimization of the data, the blood sugar level can be reached at 150.167 by consuming the extract twice daily for four days. Overall, this research shows the positive effect of dandelion root extract on type 2 diabetes. The decreasing trend of blood sugar with increasing the number of days of use and the number of times of use per day indicates that the long-term use of this extract can have more stable effects on reducing blood sugar in people with diabetes.