Jiaogulan
Summary
Jiaogulan has several small trials with positive results. In 24 people with untreated type 2 diabetes, 6 g/day of tea lowered HbA1c by about 2 points versus 0.2 for placebo (grade D). Extracts trimmed body fat in 117 overweight adults and improved bike time trials and anxiety scores in small studies (grade D). Several trials were funded by an extract maker, and lipid studies are very low certainty.
Key facts
- A climbing vine whose leaves are used as tea or extract; standardized extracts are measured by their gypenoside (saponin) content[1][6]
- Blood sugar in type 2 diabetes (D), body fat (D), endurance performance (D), trait anxiety (D), blood lipids (very low certainty)[1][2][3][5][7]
- No NIH ODS, NCCIH, EMA or Linus Pauling Institute monograph covers jiaogulan; this page relies on trials and reviews
- None set; jiaogulan is a herb, not a nutrient[7]
- A standardized extract caused no deaths or toxic signs in rats at 1,000 mg/kg/day for 90 days[6]
- 5 graded human outcomes on this page
- October 10, 2026
How it works
ProposedGypenosides are proposed to activate AMPK, the cell's energy sensor. In a crossover trial, muscle AMPK phosphorylation after exercise rose and mitochondrial oxygen flux improved with the extract. How this links to the blood sugar and body fat findings in people is not established.[3]
What the human research says
Human trials only, one row per outcome. The form column shows what each trial actually tested. Grades follow our evidence-grading policy.
At a glance: strongest evidence per outcome
| Outcome | Grade | Effect | Strongest evidence | Rows |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Body fat | Grade D | Improved | RCT · n = 117 · 2022 | 1 row |
| Endurance | Grade D | Improved | RCT · n = 100 · 2023 | 2 rows |
| Stress | Grade D | Mixed | RCT · n = 72 · 2019 | 1 row |
| Blood sugar | Grade D | Improved | RCT · n = 24 · 2010 | 1 row |
Every graded row
| Outcome | Effect | Grade | Best evidence | PMID |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Body weight and fat mass (DXA) | Improved | Grade D | RCT · n = 117 · 2022 Overweight and obese adults (Australia) Form: ActivAMP (Gynostemma pentaphyllum extract) · Dose: ActivAMP daily (amount not stated in the abstract) · Duration: 16 weeks Total body weight, BMI, total fat mass and gynoid fat fell versus placebo; triglycerides, ALT and TNF-α differed between groups. Men lost visceral fat and women gynoid fat versus placebo. | 34323337 (opens PubMed)Source [2] |
| VO2 max, perceived exertion and fatigue | Improved | Grade D | RCT · n = 100 · 2023 Healthy Korean adults aged 19–60 Form: Gynostemma extract containing gypenoside L · Dose: Extract daily (amount not stated in the abstract) · Duration: 12 weeks VO2 max (p=0.007) and O2 pulse (p=0.047) were higher than control, with lower perceived exertion and temporal fatigue scores and higher blood eNOS. | 36877124 (opens PubMed)Source [4] |
| Trait anxiety under chronic stress | Mixed | Grade D | RCT · n = 72 · 2019 Healthy Korean adults with chronic stress and moderate anxiety scores Form: Ethanol extract of jiaogulan leaves · Dose: 200 mg twice daily (400 mg/day) · Duration: 8 weeks Trait anxiety (T-STAI) fell 16.8% versus placebo (p=0.041); total STAI only trended (p=0.067), and state anxiety, HAM-A, BAI, stress hormones and heart-rate variability did not differ. No adverse reactions attributed to the extract. | 30599899 (opens PubMed)Source [5] |
| Fasting glucose, HbA1c and insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes | Improved | Grade D | RCT · n = 24 · 2010 Adults with drug-naive type 2 diabetes Form: Authenticated jiaogulan tea · Dose: 6 g/day · Duration: 12 weeks Fasting glucose fell 3.0 mmol/L versus 0.6 on placebo tea (p<0.01) and HbA1c about 2 percentage points versus 0.2 (p<0.001); insulin resistance improved. No hypoglycemia or kidney, liver or digestive side effects; lipids, blood pressure and body measures did not differ. | 20213586 (opens PubMed)Source [1] |
| 20 km cycling time trial and muscle AMPK | Improved | Grade D | Crossover RCT · n = 16 · 2023 Healthy untrained young men Form: Dried leaf extract (equivalent to 2.25 g leaf) · Dose: 450 mg/day · Duration: 4 weeks per arm, 4-week washout Time-trial performance over 20 km improved with higher muscle oxygen flux; leptin and blood glucose fell, and muscle AMPK phosphorylation rose earlier after exercise. | 38004115 (opens PubMed)Source [3] |
Forms
| Form | Elemental % | Absorption (human data) | GI tolerance | Studied for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standardized leaf extract (e.g. ActivAMP, gypenoside L extracts) | Varies[2][3][4][5] | No human absorption data in our sources.[3] | No adverse reactions attributed to the extract in an 8-week trial at 400 mg/day.[5] | Body fat, performance and anxiety trials |
| Jiaogulan tea (dried leaf) | Varies[1] | No human absorption data in our sources.[1] | No hypoglycemia or kidney, liver or digestive problems at 6 g/day for 12 weeks.[1] | Type 2 diabetes trial (6 g/day) |
Studied doses
Doses studied in human trials ranged from 400 mg/day of leaf extract to 6 g/day of leaf brewed as tea, for 4 to 16 weeks. The bike trial's 450 mg of extract equalled 2.25 g of dry leaf.[5][3][1]
Interactions
Published interactions only: each row cites a source. No row means none was found in our sources, not that a combination is safe.
None found in our sources.
Who should be careful
- Taking diabetes medicines
- Jiaogulan tea lowered fasting glucose by 3 mmol/L and HbA1c by about 2 points in drug-naive patients; effects on top of diabetes drugs are unstudied.[1]
- Taking lipid-lowering drugs
- Trials combining jiaogulan with statins or fibrates were low quality, so added benefits and risks are uncertain.[7]
Talk to your pharmacist or clinician before starting a supplement, especially if you take prescription medicines.
Safety
Short-term human and animal data look clean, but trials are small and few.
- Trial reports
- No hypoglycemia, liver, kidney or digestive problems in the 12-week tea trial; no extract-related adverse reactions in the 8-week anxiety trial.[1][5]
- Animal toxicology
- No deaths or toxic signs in rats at 5,000 mg/kg single dose or 1,000 mg/kg/day for 90 days.[6]
- Versus lipid drugs
- In lipid trials, jiaogulan had fewer adverse events than lipid-lowering drugs.[7]
How to read the label
- Label dose vs clinical doseExtract trials used 400–450 mg/day; the diabetes trial used 6 g/day of leaf as tea. Check whether a product states extract strength or leaf equivalent.[5][3][1]
- Branded extracts differActivAMP and gypenoside L extracts are made differently; results from one do not transfer to another or to plain tea.[2][4]
- Gypenoside contentStandardized extracts list gypenoside percentages; the rat safety study used a water extract with 6% gypenosides.[6]
Cost per studied dose, without the sales pitch
Compare any product you already have by the amount it delivers, not by capsule count or front-of-pack weight.
Cost per studied dose
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Frequently asked questions
Does jiaogulan lower blood sugar?
In one 12-week trial of 24 untreated type 2 diabetes patients, 6 g/day of tea lowered HbA1c by about 2 points versus 0.2 on placebo. It needs repeating.[1]
Does jiaogulan help weight loss?
A 16-week trial of 117 overweight adults found lower weight and fat mass with an extract versus placebo; the extract maker funded it.[2]
Can jiaogulan improve exercise performance?
Two small trials found better cycling time-trial performance or VO2 max after 4 to 12 weeks of extract.[3][4]
Does jiaogulan reduce anxiety?
One 8-week trial found lower trait anxiety in stressed adults at 400 mg/day, but most other anxiety measures did not change.[5]
Sources
- [1]Antidiabetic effect of Gynostemma pentaphyllum tea in randomly assigned type 2 diabetic patients.. Horm Metab Res, 2010. RCT
- [2]The effect of an orally-dosed Gynostemma pentaphyllum extract (ActivAMP®) on body composition in overweight, adult men and women: A double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled study.. J Hum Nutr Diet, 2022. RCT
- [3]Gynostemma Pentaphyllum Increases Exercise Performance and Alters Mitochondrial Respiration and AMPK in Healthy Males.. Nutrients, 2023. crossover-RCT
- [4]Effects of gypenoside L-containing Gynostemma pentaphyllum extract on fatigue and physical performance: A double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial.. Phytother Res, 2023. RCT
- [5]Supplementation with extract of Gynostemma pentaphyllum leaves reduces anxiety in healthy subjects with chronic psychological stress: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial.. Phytomedicine, 2019. RCT
- [6]Toxicity evaluation of standardized extract of Gynostemma pentaphyllum Makino.. J Ethnopharmacol, 2013. animal-study
- [7]Gynostemma pentaphyllum for dyslipidemia: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials.. Front Pharmacol, 2022. systematic-review
What changed
- First draft. Every PMID checked against NCBI E-utilities esummary (title and year taken from the record) and abstracts read for the cited rows.
- Adversarial review pass: every evidence row re-read against its PubMed abstract. No NIH ODS, NCCIH, EMA or LPI page covers jiaogulan; the page relies on trials and a systematic review. Industry ties: Gencor Pacific Ltd funded the body-composition trial (PMC9291581) and the cycling trial (PMC10675532). A 2014 Obesity trial (PMID 23804546) carries two erratum notices and was kept out. Retraction, expression-of-concern, erratum and withdrawn checks on all 7 PMIDs: none flagged. Page set indexable. Independent browser review (4 parallel reviewers, every evidence row checked against its abstract on the Vercel preview) found: citation scope on the official-sources key fact; fixed.