The seeds of Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum graecum, Family: Leguminosae), have been an important spice throughout antiquity, and cultivated throughout the Mediterranean, North Africa and Indian sub-continent. The seed has long been used in both traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurvedic medicine.
It is often employed in Indian cooking. The leaves which are known as methi in Hindi are added especially to provide a strong flavour to curry, particularly lamb and mutton, and both seed and leaf have been traditionally used for their nutritive properties. It has recently become associated with improvements in sports performance, especially in sugar or carbohydrate management because of its role in controlling insulin release and there is a lot of evidence from both animal and human studies to provide support for this.
Composition
Fenugreek seeds are rich in saponins which are the main active components. These particular types are related to steroidal compounds that have similar functional properties to testosterone. They are also known to stimulate the production of both free and total testosterone in men.
Clinical Evidence For Fenugreek Seed Benefits
Perhaps the most important pharmacological activity of fenugreek seeds occurs with the treatment of diabetes generally amongst other ailments (Miraldi et al., 2001; Basch et al., 2003). It has become well established that a fenugreek seed extract can reduce both post prandial and fasting levels of blood glucose concentration. Over 25 years ago, Sharma (1986) working at the Nat. Inst. of Nutrition in Hyderabad, India reported on this hypoglycaemic effect which was said to be similar to the effects of insulin. Later, Sharma et al., (1990b) found in human subjects with type I diabetes that over a period of 24 hours, the urinary excretion of glucose was decreased by up to 64% when compared to a control , when the subjects ingested 100g of defatted fenugreek seed powder for 10 days. All the subjects were kept on isocaloric diets. This reduction in their rate of excretion was a direct pointer to improved glucose uptake by tissues. The same authors began to cite fenugreek seed extracts as a useful adjunct in the management of type II diabetes (or non-insulin dependent diabetes) (Sharma et al., 1990a; 1996b). Other pieces of evidence point to fenugreek exerting its effects at both the insulin receptor (Raghuram et al.,1994).
There is also a lipid lowering effect whereby 60 non-insulin dependent diabetic subjects were fed with either 25 g of seed extract or none at all, for 7 days and 24 weeks on an isocaloric diet. They observed a significant reduction in both total cholesterol, LDL and VLDL cholesterol and triglyceride when the seed extract was administered (Sharma et al., 1996a).
Fenugreek Seed And Sports Training
In 2010, 30 young, healthy, weight-trained subjects found that taking fenugreek improved their testosterone levels by 26%. This testosterone was shown to be bioavailable. The study also revealed that fenugreek had aromatase inhibiting properties. There was no subsequent increase in other sex hormones such as estrogen or estradiol as had been expected. Taking the seed as a supplementalso produced improvements in sports performance. The group on fenugreek improved their bench pressing.
In 2017 there was a 12-week study with 50 resistance-trained athletes, all men. One group received a fenugreek supplement which improved their production of testosterone by 46%.
References
Basch, E., Ulbricht, C., Kuo, G., Szapary, P., & Smith, M. (2003). Therapeutic applications of fenugreek. Alt. Medicinal Rev., 8(1),pp. 20–27
Miraldi, E., Ferri, S., & Mostaghimi, V. (2001). Botanical drugs and preparations in the traditional medicine of West Azerbaijan (Iran). J. Ethnopharmacology, 75(2–3),pp. 77–87.
Raghuram, T.C., Sharma, R., Sivakumar, D., Sahay, B.K. (1994) Effect of fenugreek seeds on intravenous glucose disposition in non-insulin dependent diabetic patients. Phytotherapy Res. 8 pp. 83-86
Sharma, R.D., (1986) Effect of Fenugreek seeds and leaves on blood glucose and serum insulin responses in human subjects. Nutr. Res., 6(12) pp. 1353-1364
Sharma, R.D., Sarkar, A., Hazara, D.K., Mishra, B., Singh, J.B., Sharma, S.K., Maheshwari, B.B., Maheshwari, P.K. (1996b) Use of Fenugreek seed powder in the management of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. Nutr. Res. 16(8), pp. 1331-1339.
Sharma, R.D., Raghuram, T.C. (1990a) Hypoglycaemic effect of fenugreek seeds in non-insulin dependent diabetic subjects. Nutr. Res., 10(7) pp. 731-739
Sharma, R. D., Sarkar, A., Hazra, D. K., Misra, B. (1996a). Hypolipidaemic effect of fenugreek seeds: a chronic study in noninsulin dependent diabetic patients. Phytotherapy Res., 10, pp. 332–334
Sharma, R.D., Raghuram, T.C., Rao, N.S. (1990b) Effect of fenugreek seeds on blood glucose and serum lipids in type I diabetes. Eur. J. Clin. Nutr. 44(4), pp. 301-306.
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