Benefits
Blood sugar response after a glucose drink (one tea study)
In 30 healthy young adults, peak blood sugar after a standard glucose drink was lower on the day they drank strong pandan tea than on an earlier day with hot water. The test days ran in a fixed order without randomization or blinding, only one meal was tested, and the paper's abstract and full text give different control values.
Attention and memory measures with a purple corn and pandan drink
In a placebo-controlled trial in about 30 women around menopause, a daily drink with a combined purple corn cob and pandan leaf extract sped some brain-response timings and, at one month only, some memory task scores. The drink combined two plants and the placebo smelled of pandan, so the result cannot be credited to pandan itself.
Blood fats and body fat measures in rats (animal studies)
In rats fed fructose or a high-fat diet, pandan leaf water or ethanol extracts were followed by better body fat, blood pressure, fasting glucose, cholesterol and triglyceride measures. Most results compare each group with its own earlier values rather than with untreated rats, the doses were well above cooking amounts, and none of this has been tested in people.
Uric acid handling in rats (animal study)
In rats given a compound that raises uric acid, a pandan extract for two weeks lowered blood uric acid and the activity of the enzyme that makes it, and increased uric acid removal through the kidneys and gut. The doses were high, and the effect has not been studied in people.
Starch-digesting enzymes and insulin release in lab tests (lab study)
In test tubes, water and ethanol extracts of pandan leaf blocked sucrase and maltase, enzymes that break sugars and starch down to glucose, and raised insulin release from rat pancreatic cells in a dose-related way. These lab findings suggest a possible mechanism but do not show an effect in people.
Mechanism of action
2-Acetyl-1-pyrroline, the rice-like aroma
Pandan accumulates the highest concentration of 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (2AP) known in plants. The same compound is the leading aroma in cooked jasmine rice and the main basmati aroma. In aromatic rice the aroma is tied to a nonfunctional BADH2 enzyme; pandan makes 2AP with a working BADH2.
Carbohydrate enzyme inhibition (lab only)
Pandan leaf extracts inhibited the gut enzymes sucrase and maltase (alpha-glucosidases) in test tubes and raised insulin output from a rat beta-cell line. If this happened in the gut, slower sugar release could explain a smaller glucose peak, but it has not been measured in people.
Phenolics and Pandanus alkaloids
More than 100 compounds have been identified in the leaf, including phenolic acids, flavonoids, carotenoids, tocopherols and alkaloids such as pandamarilactonine-A and B. Lab and animal studies link these to antioxidant and lipid effects; which compound does what in people is unknown.
Clinical trials
Same-person before/after comparison using a standard 75 g oral glucose tolerance test: hot water on the first test day and pandan leaf tea (30 g dried leaf in 300 mL hot water) on a later day, each 15 minutes after the glucose drink; not randomized or blinded; the paper also includes test-tube and rat cell work (Chiabchalard et al. 2015, Pharmacogn Mag)
30 healthy adults aged 18 to 25 (15 men, 15 women) from a Thai university faculty, with normal fasting glucose.
The full text reports a lower peak blood glucose with pandan tea than with hot water (6.16 vs 6.94 mmol/L, P<0.001), but the abstract gives the hot-water value as 5.55 mmol/L, which would put the tea value higher. Only peak values are reported, the order was fixed, and side effects were not reported. Lab extracts inhibited sucrase and maltase and raised insulin release from rat cells.
Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial of a 160 mL drink with 400 mg of a combined purple waxy corn cob and pandan leaf extract daily for 2 months; the placebo carried pandan fragrance; outcomes were brain-response timing (N100, P300), memory tasks and blood oxidative stress markers; tests a combination, not pandan alone (Wattanathorn et al. 2025, Antioxidants (Basel))
32 eligible healthy peri- and postmenopausal Thai women aged 45 to 60; 2 withdrew from the placebo arm.
Versus placebo, N100 and P300 latencies were shorter at 1 and 2 months, choice reaction accuracy and spatial memory speed improved at 1 month but not at 2 months, MDA fell and SOD rose; AChE and MAO did not change. Effects were gone 1 month after stopping. No serious adverse events. The authors credit the corn anthocyanins, and the pandan share of the extract is not given.
Animal study, not a human trial: rats given 20% fructose drinking water for 8 weeks, then 10% pandan leaf water extract or tap water as drinking fluid for 8 more weeks (Reshidan et al. 2019, BMC Complement Altern Med)
30 male Wistar rats, 6 per group.
Measured against their own week-8 values, rats on the pandan extract improved on BMI, abdominal fat, fat-cell size, blood pressure, fasting glucose, triglycerides and HDL; the fasting glucose and HDL gains were significant only in the pandan group. Rats switched to tap water also improved on some measures, and most tests were within-group. Inflammatory markers (NF-kB p65, TNF-alpha, leptin, adiponectin) did not change. Not tested in people.
Animal study, not a human trial: rats fed a high-fat diet for 8 weeks, then given vehicle, a reference drug, or pandan leaf ethanol extract at 200, 300 or 600 mg/kg for 4 weeks (Lumbanraja et al. 2024, J Pharmacopuncture)
Rats with diet-induced high blood fats; group sizes are not given in the abstract.
Against each group's own levels at the end of high-fat feeding, all extract doses lowered total cholesterol, LDL and triglycerides, while levels in vehicle-treated rats kept rising. IL-6 and TNF-alpha were lower at all three doses and NF-kB p65 only at 300 and 600 mg/kg. The extract contained the alkaloids pandamarilactonine-A and B. Doses far exceed culinary use; not tested in people.
Animal study, not a human trial: Wistar rats given potassium oxonate to raise serum uric acid, then a pandan extract at 0.5, 1 or 2 g/kg for 14 days (Suntornsaratoon et al. 2025, Sci Rep)
Wistar rats with chemically raised uric acid.
The extract lowered serum xanthine oxidase activity and uric acid, reduced urate reabsorption and increased kidney and gut urate excretion. It also improved insulin secretion and signaling and reduced liver fat and inflammatory cytokines. Doses of grams per kilogram are far above food intake; not tested in people.