In a 90-day human study of gymnema extract, 2-hour after-meal sugar fell 22% and HbA1c dropped from 9.6% to 8.6% (Kumar et al., 2010), and gymnema is one of the two lead botanicals in Immority EvenOn.
Gymnema sylvestre is searched in Singapore by two kinds of people: those who cannot get past the afternoon bubble tea or the kueh on a colleague’s desk, and those whose HbA1c keeps edging up at each polyclinic review. It has human studies for both. Here is how it works, what those studies measured, how much of it is in a sachet of EvenOn, and who should talk to a doctor before taking it.
Immority EvenOn is a blood sugar balance drink from Immority. One 5 g sachet a day, stirred into water with your main meal, gives you 11 botanicals led by gymnema (25% gymnemic acid) and mulberry leaf (5% DNJ). It is halal (JAKIM) and classified as a food product by Malaysia’s NPRA, where it is made.
See also: What is Immority EvenOn? The complete Singapore guide
What is gymnema sylvestre?
Gymnema sylvestre is a medicinal herb with a long history of traditional use in Ayurveda, India’s traditional medicine. Its old Hindi name, gurmar, means “sugar destroyer”.
Its active compounds are gymnemic acids. A standardised extract states how much gymnemic acid it carries; the one in EvenOn is standardised to 25%. On Chinese labels the herb appears as 武靴叶. Gymnema works at both ends of the sugar problem, the brain that wants sugar and the pancreas that makes insulin, and in the gut it takes up the absorption sites first, so less sugar gets in from a meal.
How does gymnema cut sugar cravings?
By making sweet things taste less sweet for a while. Gymnemic acid dulls the tongue’s sweet receptors, T1R2 and T1R3, so sweet food and drinks pull at you less.
The human evidence comes from a study of gymnema mints in people who eat a lot of sugar (Hsiao et al., 2025). After 14 days, their daily intake of sugary drinks was 42% lower, and after the mints, both how much they liked chocolate and how much they wanted to keep eating it went down. Here, sugary drinks usually mean the kopi, teh peng and bubble tea that fill the gaps between meals.
The effect is temporary: gymnema lowers the tongue’s sensitivity to sweetness for a while, not for good. For a full plan beyond one herb, read how to stop sugar cravings, step by step.
What did the blood sugar studies find?
In adults with type 2 diabetes, a gymnema extract improved after-meal sugar, fasting sugar and HbA1c over 90 days (Kumar et al., 2010). The study’s results:
- 2-hour after-meal sugar: 22% lower; Kumar et al., 2010
- Fasting sugar: 14% lower; Kumar et al., 2010
- Glucose to insulin ratio: 34% lower; Kumar et al., 2010
- Urine microalbumin, a kidney marker: 37% lower; Kumar et al., 2010
- HbA1c: from 9.6% to 8.6%, a 1% drop; Kumar et al., 2010
For context, HbA1c shows your average blood sugar over about the past 3 months, and HealthHub’s HbA1c target for people with diabetes is 7% or lower, though your care team may set a different one. A separate long-term observational study, UKPDS 35 (Stratton et al., BMJ, 2000), linked each 1% lower HbA1c with 37% fewer microvascular complications, 21% fewer diabetes-related deaths and 43% fewer amputations or deaths from peripheral vascular disease. That is an association seen in people with type 2 diabetes, not a result of gymnema, but it shows why a 1% change matters.
Cell studies add the why: gymnemic acid regulated Pdx1 and insulin gene expression, pointing to a potential to protect the pancreas’s beta cells and help keep insulin output normal (Ziyanok-Demirtas & Serin, 2026; Kannan et al., 2022). These were lab studies on cells, not people.
How much gymnema is in EvenOn, and how do you take it?
EvenOn uses a gymnema sylvestre extract standardised to 25% gymnemic acid, and the label lists it at 10.0% of the formula, which works out to about 0.5 g in each 5 g sachet. It is one of the two lead botanicals, next to mulberry leaf extract with 5% DNJ. Take one sachet a day: tear it open, pour it into 100 to 150 ml of room-temperature water, stir, and drink it with the day’s highest-carb meal, at the same meal every day. If lunch is chicken rice, noodles or nasi lemak from the hawker centre, take it then; if dinner is the big rice meal, take it with dinner. One sachet is enough; if needed you can take 2, but never more than 2 a day. Taking it with the meal is the point: gymnema and mulberry leaf slow how starch turns into sugar, so the after-meal spike stays low.
The nutrition panel lists 16 kcal and 0.3 g total sugars a sachet, and it tastes of light green apple with fresh vegetable and herbal notes. Gymnema works alongside ten other botanicals, from banaba to grape seed; see what all 11 ingredients in EvenOn do.
Is gymnema safe, and who should ask a doctor first?
Gymnema has a long history of traditional use, and EvenOn is gentle and creates no dependence, but its effect on blood sugar is exactly why anyone on diabetes medicine needs a plan with their doctor.
If you take insulin or tablets that push the pancreas to release insulin, such as gliclazide, adding anything that lowers sugar raises the chance of a low. Watch for shaking, sweating, a fast heartbeat, hunger and confusion, and see your doctor if your sugar is recurrently below 4 mmol/L (HealthHub). On metformin or any other medicine, keep taking it as prescribed, never stop or change it on your own, and check your sugar more often in the first weeks, because your readings may come down. Tell your GP or polyclinic team that you take gymnema.
Pregnant or breastfeeding? Ask your doctor first. If you have a known allergy, read the full ingredient list on the box before you start, and stop if you feel any discomfort.
