Increasing evidences suggest that postprandial hyperglycemia plays an important role in the development of diabetes complications. Therefore, therapeutic approaches that act via lowering of postprandial glucose leading to reduce insulin requirement are currently very attractive. The present study investigated some possible mechanisms of hypoglycemic action of different parts (Whole Okra "WO"; Okra Peel "OP" and Okra Seed "OS") of Ex-maradi Okra fruit variety in the management of diabetes mellitus in alloxan induced diabetic rats. Standard analytical procedures were employed in the study. The results indicated that various parts of Okra fruit have ability to stimulate glycogen synthesis in the liver and delay intestinal absorption of glucose with very significant glucose dialysis retardation index (GDRI) and high glucose adsorption capacity (GAC). Histological examination of the pancreatic tissue after administration of Okra fruit revealed evidence of pancreatic islets cells regeneration. These results suggest that the possible mechanisms of antidiabetic effect of Okra fruit are multidimensional and might involve increased glycogenesis, delay glucose absorption and pancreatic islets regeneration leading to increased insulin secretion. These might help control postprandial hyperglycemia in diabetes mellitus.

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Following our report on the development of okra-based antidiabetic nutraceutical formulation and the establishment that 10:90 % (Seeds: Peels) is the formulation with optimal antidiabetic and antioxidant properties in-vitro; this study evaluated in-vivo antidiabetic effects of the developed formulation in alloxan induced diabetic rats. Diabetes was induced by intra-peritoneal administration of a single dose (150 mg/kg body weight) of Alloxan. The rats were randomly divided into five groups of six rats each. The Normal Control (NC) and the Diabetic Control (DC) groups were orally treated with normal saline (10 ml/kg); the Metformin Control (MC) group was orally treated with Metformin (100 mg/kg) while the Test groups (FX1) and (FX2) were orally treated with 100 and 200 mg/Kg body weight of the formulation respectively. All the groups were treated for 21 days. The effects of the treatments on blood glucose level, glycated hemoglobin and lipid profile parameters were studied for the antidiabetic evaluation. Administration of FX1 and FX2 to the respective test groups for 21 days resulted in significant (P<0.05) reduction in blood glucose level, glycated hemoglobin and improvement on Lipid profile compared with the diabetic control (DC) group. Based on these findings, the study demonstrated the efficacy of the Okra-based nutraceutical formulation as a potent antidiabetic formula..