Medicinal plants in management of diabetes mellitus: an overview

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus has become a global epidemic over the past few decades and is one among the major causes of death worldwide. Although various modern medicines are in the market, herbal medicines have usually maintained worldwide popularity in achieving the primary health care needs of the diabetic population because of the multiple adverse effects related to them. Herbal medicines have a prolonged history of being used as medications and sources of medication for diabetes mellitus. Some of them are enclosed within the modern therapeutic arsenal of medicine, and others are used as complementary therapy or as dietary supplements by patients with diabetes. The present review describes on traditional antidiabetic herbal medicines with an emphasis on scientific investigations conducted on antidiabetic medicinal plants, polypherbal mixtures, isolated compounds and their associated toxicities.

Anti-Diabetic Activity of Silver Nanoparticles Synthesized from the Hydroethanolic Extract of Myristica fragrans Seeds

“…Medicinal plants and spices are natural antioxidants and herbal medicines, owing to anti-diabetic compounds which enhance pancreatic tissue function [9] . As a result of their low cost, wide availability, and lack of side effects, herbal products have become increasingly popular in the management of diabetes [10] .…”

Pharmacological Investigations in Traditional Utilization of Alhagi maurorum Medik. in Saharan Algeria: In Vitro Study of Anti-Inflammatory and Antihyperglycemic Activities of Water-Soluble Polysaccharides Extracted from the Seeds

“…Natural polysaccharides possess chemical structures, making them a key source of lead compounds for management of critical diseases such as diabetes and inflammations [1]. They are also effective ways to prevent low side effects of currently available synthetic drugs e.g., acarbose, miglitol, and voglibose for treatment of diabetes and have noticeable healthy effects on hypoglycemia and gastrointestinal troubles [2][3][4]. They have demonstrated anti-inflammatory effects such as steroid and non-steroid drugs used to treat osteoporosis, hypertension, and cushing syndromes of the former and immunosuppression [5].…”

Antioxidant and Antidiabetic Potentials of a Standardized Polyherbal Mixture Used in Traditional Medicine

“…In addition, our group recently identified that cold water, hot water and water acetone extracts of the above mentioned polyherbal mixture have no acute or subchronic toxicity [17] . Further, we have observed that the water-acetone extract of the polyherbal mixture has strong antihyperglycemic and antihyperlipidemic effects than the water extracts on diabetes-induced Wistar rats [18] . We anticipated that it could be due to the compounds present in this mixture, which have been extracted by the organic solvents (acetone) compared to water and hence the higher activity.…”