The Natural History Society of Jamaica presents a seminar on: The Demonstrated High Blood Sugar and High Blood Pressure Lowering Constituents of a local Eucalyptus species
 
Speaker: Dr. Trevor Yee, recently retired Director of the Natural Products Institute, UWI, Mona
Compounds isolated from Eucalyptus camaldulensis have the demonstrated ability to lower both high blood sugar and blood pressure levels, and have been identified as constituents of some well known foods.
 
Based on local ethnomedical claims from Hope Bay, Portland, that the leaves and stems of an introduced species of Eucalyptus, E. camaldulensis (Myrtaceae) were being used there as a treatment for diabetes, led to the collection of the plant and the isolation of three compounds with the ability to reduce blood sugar levels. Moreover their blood sugar lowering ability was very comparable, in rat models, to that of the known diabetes medication, Metformin.
Further investigations led to the remarkable finding that the same compounds were also able to reduce another of the “lifestyle diseases”, high blood pressure level, and that their effect was also comparable to the known high blood pressure medication, Captopril.
 
And also most remarkable was the identification of the compounds as constituents of some well known foods, truly a case of finding new uses for old things.
 
The lecture will describe the discovery, identity and evidence of the ability of the compounds to reduce these two very significant life style diseases, as well as evidence for the mode of action.

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