According to the Pharmacopoeia

This product is the dried leaves of Morus alba L., family Moraceae. Harvested after the first frost, remove impurities, sun-dried.

[Properties] The product is crumpled and broken. The complete one is stalked, the leaf blade is ovate or broadly ovate after spreading flat, 8-15cm long, 7-13cm wide, the apex is acuminate, the base is truncate, rounded or cordate, the edge is serrate or obtuse serrate, and some of them are irregularly divided. The upper surface is yellowish green or light yellowish brown, with some small warty protrusions; the lower surface is slightly lighter in color, with prominent veins, veinlets reticulate, veins sparsely hairy, and vein bases with tufted hairs. The texture is brittle. Slight gas, taste pale, slightly bitter and astringent.

Sweet, bitter, cold. Attributed to the lung and liver meridians.

Functions and Indications: Dispersing wind-heat, clearing lung and moisturizing dryness, clearing liver and improving eyesight. Used for wind-heat cold, lung-heat dry cough, dizziness and headache, red eyes and blurred vision.

Usage and dosage] 5-10g.

Storage: In a dry place.

Functional constituents of mulberry leaves

Analyzed by Japan’s Takayuki Tani and others, mulberry leaves contain many functional components, per 100 grams of dry matter containing magnesium, phosphorus, iron, zinc is high, respectively, 362, 238, 441, 6.1 mg, vitamin content is also very rich, and its content is not affected by the harvest period. The contents of crude protein and phosphorus were higher in the upper leaves than in the lower leaves; conversely, the contents of crude fat, crude ash, calcium, magnesium and iron were more in the higher leaves than in the lower leaves. According to the analysis of Hakumei Machii, mulberry leaves are rich in GABA, which is a striking neurotransmitter and antihypertensive agent, with an average of 226mg/100g of dry matter.

Michiko Kishi et al. analysis of phytosterols in mulberry leaves resulted in 46mg of sterol and 3mg of stigmasterol per 100g of mulberry leaves, whereas green tea contains only 13mg of sterol per 100g. stigmasterol is almost absent. It is known that phytosterols inhibit the absorption of cholesterol in the intestinal tubes. Mulberry leaves contain flavonoids such as isosceliac glycosides, slack leather glycosides, slack leather bitters, and so on. In particular, it also contains a unique alkaloid 1-deoxynojirimycin (DNJ), the content of 0.1% (in dry matter).

Mulberry leaves have a variety of functional effects

1. DNJ contained in mulberry leaves can inhibit the elevation of blood glucose value, is the nemesis of glucose.
All cells in the human body use glucose as an energy source. Sugar in the blood circulation is almost exclusively glucose, the concentration of which is said to be the blood glucose value. Healthy people’s blood glucose value is 😯 a 100mg / dl (fasting), after eating from 0.5-1h about 110-140mg / dl, after 2h and return to the original blood glucose value.

If insulin secretion is insufficient or its activity is not strong, glucose from food intake, after absorption, stays in the blood, is not fully utilized and excreted with urine and other samples, so diabetes occurs. Miyahara et al. conducted a study on the inhibitory effect of mulberry leaves on the elevation of blood glucose in rats. Found that the addition of mulberry leaves of the two groups of rats with the control group of rats, compared to their blood glucose values are significantly lower.

2. Mulberry leaf can move qi, improve intestinal function
The unabsorbed sugar in the small intestine into the large intestine, through the role of the colon bacteria, causing fermentation, carbon dioxide and hydrogen, and generate butyric acid, propionic acid, lactic acid and capric acid and other organic acids. Due to the generation of organic acids, the intestinal environment becomes acidic, which can inhibit the proliferation of harmful bacteria and play a role in adjusting the sunway. Mainly, it can relieve abdominal symptoms such as intestinal tinnitus, farting and bloating feeling.

3. Mulberry leaves can prevent hard stools, constipation
Because the mulberry leaves contain a lot of minerals (sodium, potassium, etc.), food fiber, fat and not digested and absorbed into the colon of sugar, can make the water content in the bowel tube increased, to soften the feces, to promote intestinal arm peristalsis, accelerate fecal discharge, but also can increase the body’s discharge of water. In addition, the flavonoids contained in the mulberry leaf, can inhibit the absorption of cholesterol, and anti-cancer effect. Some minerals contained in mulberry leaves have special functions.

The rational use of mulberry leaf products

1. Mulberry leaf tea
The simplest way is directly to the mulberry leaves to “mulberry leaf tea” form of drinking. Since May 1996, the Japanese market has been selling cheap “mulberry leaf tea” (3g × 30 bags). Feedback surveys from people who have consumed the tea have shown that it is effective in preventing constipation, especially in women, and in preventing diabetes, and that it generally improves health. Nobuko Noda manager predicted: in Japan will be followed by the best-selling Dulcimer, there is a drink “mulberry leaf tea” of the leap.

2. Mulberry leaf powder
There are two types: one is the mulberry leaves as is broken into fine powder (can be used to make drinks, etc.); the other is extracted from the mulberry leaf extracts made from the treatment of the powder. This powder is added to ice cream will not affect the taste, the end of the leaf is green, with green tea flavor.

3. Mulberry leaf medicinal food
Japan’s Nagano region also mulberry leaves as a medicinal diet of a dish, the name of the day said “open water copied mulberry leaves” and other market. The key to using the above mulberry leaf products is to take time. Japanese scholars showed that: mulberry leaf products must be at the beginning of the meal or the initial intake.