Earticle

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic condition that blood glucose is not used as a energy source because of resistance or insufficient production of insulin, which results in hyperglycemia and glycosuria. Medication and dietotherapy is paralleled for the treatment of DM, however the side effect of medication is on the rise for DM patients. The purpose of this study is to confirm the blood glucose reducing effect of Gangcheon mountain spring water (GSW) in Sunchang-gun, Jeollabuk-do on the subject of DM patients based on its rich mineral contents. Also, GSW was previously studied to have anti-oxidative effect and rapid absorption based on the property of alkalescence and reduction power. The participants were divided into two groups: GSW group (n=20) which were supplied with Gangcheon mountain spring water and TW group (n=20) wupplied with purified tap water (TW). The drinking volume of water per a day was 30ml/lg body weight and the experimental period was one month. After one month, fasting blood glucose and blood pressure of two groups were measured before and after drinking of TW and GSW. As a result, GSW group showed a significant reduction of blood glucose (p<0.01) and blood pressure (p<0.01) after drinking GSW, while TW group did not show any difference. Collectively, this study suggests that the long-term drinking of Gangcheon mountain spring water may have a positive effect on the control of blood pressure and blood glucose level of DM patients that might be helpful in the management of DM.

Spring water traditionally has been used for hydrotherapy due to its useful minerals and therapeutic function through bathing and drinking. This study was conducted to confirm the long-term drinking effect of Gangcheon-mountain spring water (GSW) in ICR mice. The mice were randomly divided into control (n=18) and experiment (GSW; n=18) group, and were supplied with tab water (TW) and GSW for 100 days, respectively. As a result, fasting blood glucose concentration was 108.6±10.2 mg/dl in control group and 101.9±23.5 mg/dl in experiment group, and blood pressure (systolic/diastolic) was 121±25 / 84±24 mmHg and 123±27 / 74±19 mmHg in TW and GSW group, respectively. In the result of hematological test (complete blood cell count), there was no significant difference between two groups. The serum value of biochemical parameters were included in the normal range although Na and Cl revealed significant difference among them. The weight of organs and body did not show significance between two groups. The number of sperm in the experiment group (109.97±25.04) was higher than control (98.5±32.3) although it has no significance. These results indicate that GSW is safe as a daily drinking water. The difference of sperm number is speculated that drinking GSW has possibility of enhancement of reproductive function compared to TW due to useful minerals and comparatively low oxidation reduction potential value compared to TW.