Chinese Herbal Medicine Tianqi Reduces Progression From Impaired Glucose Tolerance to Diabetes: A Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Multicenter Trial

Abstract

Treatment with a Tianqi capsule for 12 months significantly decreased the incidence of T2DM in subjects with IGT, and this herbal drug was safe to use.

Standards of care for type 2 diabetes in China

“…Drug intervention trials in a pre‐diabetic population showed that the oral administration of hypoglycaemic agents, such as metformin, α ‐glucosidase inhibitors, thiazolidinediones (TZDs), metformin combined with TZDs, the diet pill orlistat and traditional Chinese herbal medicine (Tianqi capsules), reduced the risk of diabetes 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. However, because there is no sufficient evidence showing that drug interventions have long‐term efficacy and/or health economics benefits, the clinical guidelines developed by various countries have not widely recommended medical interventions as the primary prevention for diabetes.…”

Syndrome Differentiation of Diabetes by the Traditional Chinese Medicine according to Evidence-Based Medicine and Expert Consensus Opinion

“…The clinical effects of the kai-yu-jiang-zhuo decoction [1] are the same as metformin; therefore, the kai-yu-jiang-zhuo decoction could be recommended clinically. In one study  [2] assessing the ability of the Chinese herbal medicine Tianqi to reduce progression from impaired glucose tolerance to diabetes, there was a significant difference in the number of subjects who had normal glucose tolerance at the end of the study between the Tianqi (63.13%) and placebo groups, respectively (46.60%). Cox's proportional hazards model analysis demonstrated that Tianqi reduced the risk of diabetes by 32.1% compared with placebo.…”

Prevention of type 2 diabetes with the Chinese herbal medicine Tianqi capsule: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…All included trials provided complete baseline information and described similarities between groups compared. Three trials reported dropouts or withdrawals [18][19][20][21][22][23]. One trial [18] was at low risk of selective reporting bias due to trial protocols being available.…”

“…The intervention period lasted from 6 to 24 months. All of the trials reported the incidence of T2DM, normalization of blood glucose, and IGT stabilized incidence, while five trials [19][20][21][22][23] reported the changes in the FPG and/or 2-h plasma glucose levels, and three trials [18,20,22] reported BMI.…”