Dr. Jaime Z. Galvez Tan, Mark Lopez, Genebebs Hollesca, company pharmacist of Nutra Berde Inc., and Robi Domingo. Photo courtesy of pinoytrendsonline.com

FORMER health secretary Dr. Jaime Galvez Tan has recently introduced his medical innovation Bioherb, an all-natural food supplement packed with the extracts of ampalaya, banaba, camote, and duhat which are known to be the most effective in lowering sugar levels.

Manufactured by La Croesus Pharma Inc. and distributed by Nutra Berde Inc., Bioherb is a choice four-in-one natural treatment with known hypoglycemic effect against high blood sugar. Each of the supplement’s green plant ingredients contains compounds that are beneficial to those with or predisposed to diabetes. 

When taken once a day, Bioherb lowers blood sugar in a manageable level as well as the level of cholesterol and triglyceride and at the same time, elevates good cholesterol. It enhances insulin secretion and peripheral glucose utilization and reduces glycogenesis in liver tissues. It also inhibits absorption of carbohydrates from the intestines and helps lower blood pressure in part due to the diuretic effect of banaba.

From the UP College of Medicine, Galvez Tan, who has been working on medicinal plants for almost four decades, has gone to the barrios of Samar and Leyte to learn from its traditional healers the curative wonders of herbs. 

 “Simultaneously, my professors also started the national research (program) on medicinal plants,” Galvez Tan said.

According to the herbal medicine advocate, the national research program of the Department of Science and Technology was a collaboration of UP Los Baños for horticulture, UP Diliman for chemistry, UP College of Pharmacy for tablet production, and UP College of Medicine for clinical trials.

While in Samar and Leyte, Galvez Tan practiced using the medicinal herbs he learned from the people and healers. “My UP College of Medicine professors were also confirming all the developments that I was in,” he shared.

He then went to the Cordilleras, Negros, and Mindanao. He kept in touch with his professors and sought the latest research in medicinal plants. Tan also travelled to China, India, Sri Lanka, Korean, and Japan, among others, to further his learnings.

The use of medicinal plants works together, said Tan. “In Asian tradition, interestingly, the more herbs the better, such that it helps restore the balance or bring back to life whatever is not doing well in your body,” he explained, adding that it may look different but all healers want their patients to be healthy, happy, and prosperous.

Bioherb is a food supplement and one can have it without any negative effects in the body. Galvez Tan guarantees that it has been globally proven to be “non-toxic and there is no overdose.”

In the Philippines, both medicinal plants and herbal supplements have been beefed up. However, it is still far from getting the attention of pharmaceuticals markets, he said. “But, many large pharmaceutical firms now eye medicinal herb production.”

Galvez Tan sees the good future of medicinal herb in the local market, such that the country is blessed to have hundreds of medicinal plants. “Going natural is on-trend nowadays as the whole world recognizes the limitations of synthetic medicines,” he pointed out.

He explained that a certain market segment of the A and B economic class go into it and at times, this is the one taken advantage by commercial interest. “When one looks at it, 80 percent of people in the rural areas use medicinal plants at almost no cost,” he said, adding that “the segment can also distort the picture that natural is expensive.”

For Galvez Tan, “it is still the adult market, more than the millennial market that is into medicinal plants.” 

Priced at P11 per 500 mg, Bioherb is available at leading drug stores nationwide.

Source: https://www.malaya.com.ph/business-news/living/all-natural-way-manage-diabetes