An Israeli plant may be used to treat diabetes. PHOTO: NRG/Eitan F.

According to a study presented on Monday at Israel’s Ariel University, a small aromatic shrub which grows in Israel and its neighboring countries, can be used as an effective diabetes treatment, Israeli NRG news reported on Sunday.

The plant is known scientifically as “Chiliadenus iphionoides.” 

The study was presented by Dr. Jonathan Gorelick of the Judea Regional Research and Development Center, as part of a Judea and Samaria research conference being held at the Ariel campus.

According to Gorelick, many plants have been used traditionally to treat diabetes, but only a few of them have been developed into marketable medicines.

Gorelick and his team of researchers are busy these days uncovering the plant’s medical capabilities to develop into a pharmaceutical product that could eventually be distributed to diabetes patients.

The therapeutic potential of the plant has already been proven on tests administered to animals. The tests showed that consumption increased the absorption rate of sugar in skeletal muscle cells and fat cells, simultaneously reducing blood sugar levels.