Product Name:Mulberry Leaf P.E.
Latin name: Morus alba L.
Chinese name: Sang Ye
Family: Moraceae
Genus: Morus
Part used: Leaf
Ingredients:1-Deoxynojirimcin(1-DNJ)
Specification:4:1 10:1 0.4-10%
Test Method:HPLC
1 The Summary
Folium Mori means the fresh or dry leaf of Morus alba L., with English name as Mulberry Leaf. There are 16 kinds of this plant all over the world, distributing in the north temperate zone, the Asian tropics, the African tropics and the American area. 11 kinds of them grow in China, distributing in most areas of the country, major in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, the southern areas for raising silkworms.
Mulberry belongs to deciduous arbor, with shrub form in common. The bark presents ochre color, and the branch in grey-white color, with soft hairs when tender. The leaf is like oval, with length 5-10cm, maximum to 20 cm. Unisexual flower, in yellowish-green color, comes into bloom with leaf in the same time. Florescence: April - May; Fruit period: June - July.
2 The use history of Mulberry Leaf
There is a long history for planting mulberry tree in China, over 3,000 years of history for cultivation. In the most ancient " The Book of Songs ", there were some descriptions about mulberry. The mulberry leaf can be used as raising silkworms, and the mulberry bark may be used as papermaking, the fruits can be used for food. The leaf, the branch, the fruit and the root all can be used as medicine.
The mulberry is very tasty, with no side effect. The scholars in ancient China substituted mulberry leaves for tea leaves in the beverages, for maintaining the youth. Mulberry leaf is also a kind of traditional Chinese medicine most in use. Except for expelling wind-evil & clearing heat, clearing liver & improving visual acuity, it still has the effect for preserving youthful looks & blacken hairs. The efficacy of the mulberry leaf is rather wide, including relieving cough, eliminating heat; curing dizzy, clearing eyes' fatigue; promoting the subsidence of swelling, clearing blood; curing dysentery, stomachache; invigorating liver and skin-care, etc.
There are some records in Japan that mulberry leaf can improve diabetes. The Central Institute of Silkworm Industry in Japan has developed the mulberry tea for health care, which contains rich of protein in best quality, fat acid in need, coarse fibre, carbohydrate and some nutritive elements of calcium, phosphorus, iron, zinc and manganese. It's very convenient for drink, with fast absorption of the nutritive elements, along with the effect for promoting metabolism and blood cycle, removing fatigue, etc. Besides the mulberry leaf tea, Japanese still put out series foods of mulberry leaf noodles, mulberry leaf sweet cake and mulberry leaf buckwheat noodles. Also the mulberry leaf extracts can be used as safe colouring for cakes.
In the treatment of Chinese medicine, the mulberry leaf can be used as the medicine to improve diabetes and some other difficult and complicated cases. The mechanism for mulberry leaf tea to lose weight is related to its effect of "removing swelling" and " clearing blood ". Mulberry leaf tea can remove swelling, it's due to the mulberry leaf favourable to the water. This effect is different from diuresis, it not only can improve urination, but also remove the surplus moisture piling in the cells. " Clearing blood " means removing the excessive neutral fat and biochem cholesterol in the blood. More neutral fat or biochem cholesterol in the blood means high blood fat disease. Therefore, the fat people are easy to get high blood fat disease. Mulberry leaf has the effect to improve high blood fat.
3 The major chemical composition
(1) Flavone and Flavone Glycosides
The mulberry leaf contains compounds of rutin, quercetin, isoquercitrin and Quercetin-3-Triglucoside, etc.
(2) Steroids
Including β- sitosterol, stigmasterol, campesterol, β-sitosteryl-β-D-glucoside, mesoinositol and metamorphic hormone such as inokosterone and ecdysterone.
(3) Volatile Oils
Acetic acid, butyric acid, valeric acid, isovaleric acid, methyl salicylate, guaiacol, eugenol, etc., also containing oxalic acid, fumarate, tartaric acid, citric acid, succinic acid, palmitic acid, ethyl palmitate, henthriacontane and hydroxycoumarin, etc.
(4) Saccharides and amino acids
Including sucrose, frucrose, fructose, glucose and 17 kinds of amino acids such as aspartic acid and glutamic acid. The content of blood level-decrease component γ - amino butanoic acid is up to 226mg / 100g. For γ-amino butanoic acid is conversed from glutamic acid, so the glutamic acid in mulberry leaf is up to 2323mg / 100g.
(5) Vitamins and trace elements
Containing vitamin A, B1, B2, C, nicotinic acid, carotene and food fibres, also with zinc, copper, boron, manganese, iron, etc. In addition, mulberry leaf contains alkaloids, especially one particular component called 1-deoxynojirimycin ( DNJ ).
4 The Major Efficacy
(1) The effect to reduce blood glucose
Mulberry leaf shows the effect to reduce blood glucose for experimental rat with diabetes. Make experiment by the white rat with diabetes. Feed mulberry leaf and its extracts 6 - 8 weeks ago when coming down with diseases. Last for 48 weeks, then research the effect to blood glucose. You will see that feeding the mulberry leaf to the white rat with diabetes before diseases coming, may delay diabetes and inhibit the disease worse.
DNJ in mulberry leaf has clear inhibition to the value of blood glucose rising.
Total polysaccharides in mulberry leaf have clear effect to reduce blood glucose for rat with diabetes caused by alloxan.
(2) The effect to reduce blood pressure
γ-amino butanoic acid in mulberry leaf has the effect to reduce blood pressure. Add mulberry leaf to the feed for rat with natural high blood pressure, continuously feeding several days later, you would find that the frequency of the symptom for the rat with high blood pressure decreases obviously. This is related to the action of γ-amino butanoic acid in mulberry leaf.
(3) The effect to reduce biochem cholesterol and reduce blood fat
Botanic sterols in mulberry leaf can inhibit the absorption of biochem cholesterol inside intestine canal. The flavones in mulberry leaf also can inhibit the absorption of biochem cholesterol, along with improving liver function.
Feeding the rabbit with high blood fat, mixed with mulberry leaf, to the result, the biochem cholesterol and neutral fat in serum decrease in different degree. Mulberry leaf and its extracts also can reduce the intensity of the protein in serum for the rabbit.
Through study to pathologic section of the liver, it's proved that mulberry leaf has indeed the effect to inhibit the formation of the fat liver and to reduce the fat in serum
(4) The mechanism for mulberry leaf to reduce blood glucose
Mulberry leaf can inhibit the blood glucose rising, the major functional material is that DNJ in mulberry leaf can inhibit the activation of α-glucosaminidase, inhibit catalytic reaction of α-glucosehydrolase, thus stopping and delaying starch food decomposing into monosaccharides of glucose, fructose, etc, and clearly inhibiting blood glucose rising rapidly after food. Glucosaminidase involved in various biologic processing, such as digestion of carbohydrate and biosynthesis of glycoprotein. DNJ is the effective inhibitor to α-glucosaminidase in all mammals. It can reduce the high blood glucose through reducing digestion of carbohydrate and absorption of glucose. DNJ can also combine with α-glycosidases of maltase, sucrase and lactase in small intestine, thus stopping them further decomposing into monosaccharides and to be absorbed and clearly inhibiting the value of blood glucose rising rapidly.
The carbohydrate in the diet, like starch, goes into the stomach while hydrolysis due to action to α-amylase in saliva. The part inside the stomach not mixing with saliva, about 70% still make hydrolysis, then enter into duodenum. They continue hydrolysis with acting to α-amylase of pancreatic juice, then produce sucrose and maltose, which are conveyed to small intestine. α-glycosidases attached on the cilium membrane of the upper part of small intestine is made hydrolysis into glucose and fructose, entering into the body with absorbed by the wall of intestines so as to lead the intensity of glucose in the blood rising rapidly. When DNJ is absorbed with food together, the food to the small intestine is also made hydrolysis into sucrose and maltose. Meanwhile DNJ enters into small intestine and combine with α-glycosidases. Due to DNJ' s action, the glucose into the blood becomes reducing, thus the value of blood glucose also lowering down.
The rising of free radicals in the diabetics has close relationship with that of blood glucose. And the changes in oxidation for free radicals, lipid peroxidation, LPO further develop along with diabetes. LPO in the blood of diabetics are clearly higher than that of healthy people, with the activation of SOD lowering down obviously. This shows the anti-oxidant function inside the body got serious damaged. It may be produced great number of free radicals because of the auto-oxidation between glucose of diabetes and glycosylate protein, meanwhile, the activation of anti-oxidant enzyme, such as vitamin E, GSH, carotene, the density lowers down and weaken in clearing free radicals, thus producing clearly oxidative stress, which may increase more serious for diabetes metabolism in disorder. The anti-oxidant in plant flavonoids not only removes oxygen free radical inside the body, but also removes the free radicals that can't be done by enzymes.
Mulberry leaf is full of total flavones, with contents up to 3.3g / 100g, also full of higher carotene. The extracting liquid from mulberry leaf has clear effect to reduce blood glucose, which improve the diabetes in a great extent. In addition, with the content of LPO clearly lowering down, and the level of SOD more rising, this indicates that the effect to reduce blood glucose for the extracting liquid from mulberry leaf by water may be related to its anti-oxidant activation. The mechanism for reducing glucose is due to total flavones in mulberry leaf inhibiting the production of free radicals and quickening the elimination of free radicals.
5 The Use of Mulberry Leaf Extract
Mulberry leaf is the dual - purpose article both for medicine and food published by National Ministry of Health. It contains multi-functional components, can be used as one of the ideal resources for functional food. With the development in science-technology and economy, the people's consumptive quality and consumptive level will get constantly improved, and the consciousness for health care also get gradually enhanced. People will pay more attention to the healthy products of mulberry leaf.
The development in mulberry tea may become one of the directions for mulberry raw materials. Japanese make use of mulberry leaf for tea, with much function for health care and convenient use for food, good for drinking before or after meals. Japanese use fresh mulberry leaf with pre-treatment to produce natural beverages. As a try to improve the traditional structure of mulberry leaf and to develop new type of healthy products, Japanese obtained a good result.