Eating the vine that ate the South may help your health, even ward off diabetes, study suggests

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham have found that kudzu may be a valuable dietary supplement against a metabolic syndrome that affects 50 million Americans. Researchers discovered that isoflavones in kudzu can improve regulation of blood pressure, high cholesterol and blood glucose, according to a UAB news release. (Photo by Michael Jon Jensen, National Academies Press)

The study, published in the latest edition of the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, found that the isoflavone puerarin is found only in kudzu and seems to regulate blood glucose. Excessive amounts of glucose lead to diabetes. The lead author of the study, Michael Wyss, says puerarin seems to regulate glucose by steering it to beneficial areas like muscle.

Kudzu is already a common supplement in Asia, UAB reports. The vine was brought to the U.S. in the 1930s for erosion control, but quickly overgrew much of the South. (IRJCI Director Al Cross's personal boundary for it is the Green River in Kentucky.) Kudzu vines can grow almost a foot per day and can overwhelm trees and power poles if left unattended. (Read more)