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No, the almond tree can’t treat diabetes or high blood pressure

By Motunrayo Joel
28 October 2020   |   9:59 am
The leaves of the almond tree are a remedy for diabetes, and the tree’s bark can help control high blood pressure. That’s the claim in a message posted on Facebook in Nigeria. “If you are having type 1 diabetes or type two diabetes just get the leaves of tree squeeze it, filter and drinking it morning and…
“If you are having type 1 diabetes or type two diabetes just get the leaves of tree squeeze it, filter and drinking it morning and night. Within a short period of time you will notice a big change,” it reads.“If your BP is high, get the back of this tree and cook it in a pot and be drinking it morning and night.”Almonds – the seeds of the almond tree – are nutritious, full of vitamins and said to have antioxidant properties.But can the tree’s leaves and bark really help control diabetes and high blood pressure, both serious medical conditions?

Visit a doctor

“There is no scientific basis for this,” Siminialayi  Iyeopu, professor of endocrine pharmacology at the University of Port Harcourt faculty of basic medical sciences in southern Nigeria, told Africa Check.

“People make all types of claims. I have also heard that bitter leaf can be used to treat diabetes. But type one and type two diabetes are not treated the same way – and there are effective treatments for both, prescribed by doctors.

“People must avoid consuming all sorts of mixtures. I heard of someone who began to consume bitter leaf, and she ended up developing another ailment.”

Kamilu Karaye, professor of medicine at Bayero University in Kano state, northern Nigeria, said people with high blood pressure should visit a doctor.

“In orthodox medicine there is no known record of high blood pressure being treated with the bark of the almond tree,” he said.

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