Childhood Obesity & Child Development

Biography

Biography: Linhua Zhao

Abstract

As one of the most common chronic non-communicable diseases, diabetes is a serious hazard to human health. The morbidity of diabetes rised rapidly in recent years, yet the control of it is not satisfying. The gut microbiota may play a vital role in obesity and diabetes development. Berberine, the major pharmacological component of a Chinese herb Coptis chinensis (Huang-Lian) originally used to treat bacterial diarrhea, showed clinical efficacy in treating diabetes in a multi-centered, randomized, double-blinded and placebo-controlled clinical trial. Gegen Qinlian Decoction (GQD) , a standardized berberine-containing Chinese herbal formula, has been a treatment for diarrhea since the East Han Dynasty in China. Subsequently, GQD has been found to have potentially beneficial effects in the treatment of diabetes in clinical observations and animal experiments. Based on this, we united several research institutions to explore the effect on the early stage diabetic patients through multi-centered, randomized double-blinded and placebo-controlled clinical trial and gut microbiota research. The results showed that GQD treatment provided clinically meaningful and dose-dependent reductions in FBG and HbA1c compared with placebo. Structural alterations of gut microbiota induced by GQD are associated with the anti-diabetic effects of GQD. At the same time, a practical application of the network-based approach is illustrated in GQD, and the antidiabetic activity of the herbal ingredients from GQD has been identified. These data shows that the Chinese herbal formula is effective for glycemic control, making it a promising candidate for diabetes management. And further deep study should be carried out to explore its action mechanism and to find some new biological targets and markers.