Traditional Mexican Medicine

Fernanda A Espinoza-Hernández et al. (2022) · Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM

This 42-day study in laboratory rats tested three plants long used in Mexican traditional medicine for diabetes: Ageratina petiolaris, Calea urticifolia, and Eryngium cymosum. Type 2 diabetes (a condition where the body cannot properly regulate blood sugar) causes 90-95% of diabetes cases and is a leading cause of death in Mexico, where many people, especially in rural communities with limited access to health services, drink these plants as traditional teas alongside or instead of prescribed medication. The researchers wanted to know whether the plants' previously documented short-term blood-sugar-lowering effects would hold up over six weeks of continuous use. Six groups of six rats each were given hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) through a standard chemical induction method, then treated once daily for 42 days with one of: a placebo, a combination of two standard diabetes drugs (metformin and glibenclamide) as a positive comparison, or the traditional-strength tea extract of one of the three plants. A separate untreated, non-hyperglycemic group served as a healthy baseline. Researchers tracked blood glucose weekly, a longer-term blood sugar marker called HbA1c three times over the study, and blood fat (triglyceride) levels every two weeks. Rats given no treatment for their high blood sugar got steadily worse across the study. Ageratina petiolaris lowered blood glucose by 33% from its own starting point (a statistically meaningful reduction, p=0.0281), kept the HbA1c rise to just 2.63 percentage points versus roughly 10 points in the untreated group (p=0.0303), and was the only plant extract to also significantly reduce blood triglycerides (p=0.0031). Calea urticifolia and Eryngium cymosum did not significantly lower overall blood glucose compared to the untreated group, but they did significantly limit the HbA1c rise to about 2.4-3.0 percentage points each (both p=0.0156) - meaning that even without a clear glucose-lowering signal, both plants measurably slowed the longer-term worsening of blood sugar control. Neither of these two plants meaningfully affected triglycerides. The study's authors suggest chlorogenic acid, found in all three plants, may explain their shared blood-sugar effects, while a different compound unique to Ageratina petiolaris may explain its additional benefit for triglycerides. This is animal, not human, research, and the study did not examine pancreatic tissue, insulin levels, or the specific fat particles that matter most for heart-disease risk. The findings support these plants as promising candidates for further development but do not establish that the same doses would work the same way in people.

Özden Tandoğan et al. (2024) · Medicine

This randomized controlled trial with 113 first-time mothers explored whether the rebozo technique — a traditional Mexican bodywork practice using a long woven shawl to rock, sway, and reposition a laboring woman's body — could ease labor pain and improve the overall birth experience. The technique comes from Mexican folk obstetric care, where practitioners use rhythmic shawl movements to help relax the body and support positional changes, working on the idea that gentle external movement and steady physical support help labor progress more comfortably. Researchers compared it directly against a relaxing massage, a widely used comfort measure, to see whether rebozo offered any added benefit. The trial ran at a hospital in Istanbul, Turkey, from January to May 2021, enrolling 113 healthy, first-time mothers between 37 and 41 weeks pregnant who arrived in labor with at least 4 cm of cervical dilation. Fifty-eight women received the standardized rebozo technique from trained personnel; 55 received a relaxing massage instead. Labor pain was tracked at three labor stages using the 0-10 Visual Analog Scale (VAS, a simple self-rated pain-intensity score), and after birth, women rated their experience on a four-part scale covering decision-making involvement, the labor process itself, professional support received, and feelings of safety. Women in the rebozo group reported consistently lower pain throughout labor: VAS scores were 3.2 versus 5.0 in the early (latent) phase, 4.5 versus 6.5 in the active phase, and 5.8 versus 7.9 in the transition phase (rebozo versus control). Their overall childbirth experience score was also markedly higher — 68.5 versus 51.6 (P < .001, meaning this gap is very unlikely to be due to chance) — with gains across all four subdimensions, including feeling more involved in decisions and safer during labor. Labor also moved differently: the second stage of labor was roughly half as long for the rebozo group (about 16 minutes versus 32 minutes, P < .001), and active-phase cervical dilation progressed at a different pace (6.03 cm versus 6.68 cm, P < .001). Not every measure differed — fetal heart rate and head station were similar between groups throughout, suggesting the technique did not affect fetal well-being indicators. For expectant mothers and birth attendants, these results suggest the rebozo technique is a low-cost, equipment-light way to potentially ease pain and improve satisfaction during labor, alongside or instead of standard massage. Because participants and staff could not be blinded to which technique was used, and the study was conducted at a single center with practitioners of varying rebozo experience, the results should be confirmed in larger, multicenter trials with blinded assessors before the technique is recommended as routine intrapartum care.