Asparagus (Thanneervittan kizhangu in Tamil), a popular vegetable, could be a powerful new culinary weapon in the fight against diabetes as it controls blood sugar, a new study has found.

Scientists have found regular intake of the vegetable keeps blood sugar levels under control and boosts the production of insulin, the hormone that helps body to absorb glucose.

Type two diabetes, which accounts for 90 per cent of all diabetes cases, is emerging as a major health burden, the ’Daily Mail’ reported.

It can raise the risk of heart attacks, blindness and amputation; however, if doctors catch it early, it can be well controlled with diet and medication.

Once known as ‘late onset’ diabetes, since it only tended to strike from middle-age onwards, doctors are now beginning to see patients in their teens and twenties with the condition.

Scientists at the University of Karachi in Pakistan injected rats with chemicals to induce a diabetic state, with low levels of insulin and high blood sugar content.

They then treated half with an extract from the asparagus plant and the other half with an established anti-diabetic drug, called glibenclamide.

The rats were fed the asparagus extract in small or large doses every day for 28 days. Blood tests were then carried out to measure changes in their diabetes.

The results published in the British Journal of Nutrition, showed low levels of the asparagus suppressed blood sugar levels but did not improve insulin output.

Only high doses of the extract had a significant effect on insulin production by the pancreas, the organ which releases the hormone into the bloodstream.

The findings support earlier studies highlighting the benefits of asparagus.

“This study suggests asparagus extract exerts anti-diabetic effects,” researchers said.

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