Study: Rosemary Leaves Have Beneficial Effect as Anti-Diabetic Agent

For centuries, herbal medicine is famous worldwide and has been used since dawn of life. A lot of herbs and spices are claimed to have healthful components to treat several diseases. Among these herbs with healthful treatments is rosemary which is asserted by scientists for its effects on treating diabetes.

Rosemary is an herb from mint family “with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers”. Several scientific searches studied rosemary leaves and come with conclusion that this herbal plant can have effects similar to anti-diabetic medication prescriptions.

In this context, a new research which is published in a Journal of Research in Diabetes has gone this direction and stressed on how dried and powdered rosemary leaves can affect blood sugar and lipid profile.

Researchers of this study made experiments on 100 rats divided into “5 groups (20 rats/group) as follow: G1: Normal Control; G2: STZ-induced Diabetics; G3: STZ-induced Diabetic+ Glibenclamide; G4: STZ-induced Diabetic+ Dried rosemary leaves powder; G: Normal Control+ Dried rosemary leaves powder.”

After experiments that lasted 6 weeks and 45 days, researchers discovered different results. They noticed that there is an “improvements of body weight in STZ-induced diabetic rats treated with dried rosemary leaves powder compared with normal rats” and this may be as a result of “the increase of glucose metabolism, or may be due to its protective effect in controlling muscle wasting… and may also be due to the improvement in insulin secretion and glycemic control or may be due to the activation of  the β-cells and granulation returned to normal, like insulinogenic effect” as stated in the research.

What may stand behind this is that “rosemary stimulates insulin secretion from the remnant β-cells or regenerated β-cells and this may be through increasing betatrophin hormone (a new hormone, found in the liver that spurs the growth of insulin-secreting cells in the pancreas) secretion which increases the number of insulin-producing cells in the pancreas”.

Researchers also noticed that “treatment of STZ-induced diabetic rats with dried rosemary leaves powder significantly reduced blood glucose level to normal glycemic level, and this trigger liver to revert to its normal homeostasis during experimental (STZ-induced) diabetes.”

As stated in the study also “after treatment of diabetic group with dried rosemary leaves powder, a significant reduction (P<0.001) in fasting blood glucose (FBG) and glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) level was noted in respect to untreated streptozotocin (STZ) diabetic group.”

After experiments, researchers noticed also changes in the plasma level of TG (Total triacylglycerol) and TC (Total cholesterol) in rats’ blood. Researchers explained that “after treatment with dried rosemary leaves powder, a significant increase was noticed in comparison with diabetic group. Regarding the levels of TG and TC in plasma, dried rosemary leaves powder treated diabetic group showed 45.43 & 33.89 % decrease in respect to STZ-induced diabetic control respectively. ”

Researchers of the study mentioned that most studies use the extract of rosemary, but in this research, they used “dried rosemary leaves powder which is common in normal kitchens”. The overall results of “this experiment may indicate that the dried rosemary leaves powder has a beneficial effect as an anti-diabetic agent and its complications as well as improving lipid metabolism in diabetics”.

Impact of Physical Appearance on Job Applicants

 

When recruiters intend to hire new employees, certainly they take several factors in consideration to select the appropriate applicant. Of course, the applicant’s educational certificates and work experience is important, but the physical appearance is also a major element that affects the employee’s choice.

A lot of scientific studies have investigated how important is physical appearance for the employee’s choice of an employee.  A recently published study carried at Sorbonne University, Paris, tried to go through this subject and discusses the impact of makeup and cosmetics on women during job applications.

In modern times, appearance matters and employment is no exception. When employees decide to employ someone, the physical appearance plays a major role even when the position is not highly exposed.

The study tried to answer the question if applicants “with equal skills and for the same position, will a recruiter prefer to call back a woman wearing makeup or a neutral looking woman?”

According to researchers, makeup should be applied professionally. The study stated that “the use of cosmetics will have either a positive or negative influence on the personality traits, i.e. A woman using cosmetics in a professional way, may look more serious and skilled.”

Also, makeup needs to be applied moderately. “Professional makeup” makes the individual “friendlier and more professional… (Yet) a natural makeup (“minimal”) and a glamorous makeup (“dramatical”) are not recommended” as discussed in the study.

Researchers emphasized “the influence of professional makeup during the time of selection based on CV. For saleswoman jobs in the ready-to-wear division, the use of makeup allows our applicants to get at least 3 times more positive responses… The odds of getting a positive response … are at least 7 times greater with professional makeup.

In this regard, this study explained that “interviewers collect considerable, but obviously incomplete, information about an applicant before and during the interview and then presumably use an attribution process to form a complete impression of the person when making an employment decision. One of the variables that could influence an interviewer’s decision is the physical appearance of the applicant.”

So, it seems that “after all, it all comes down to knowing whether the recruiter, looking at a professionally embellished candidate, sees a “smart, honest and faithful” woman, or a beautiful and attractive woman” as stated by researchers.

Physical appearance is important for job applicants both for men and women. Studies explained that “employers understand that persons who do not look like they can take care of themselves will not elicit confidence that they can take care of a potential customer’s business.” For women, they are judged most on their beauty and the applying of cosmetics and makeup.