Presenting anti-diabetic plants in Iranian traditional medicine

Abstract

The high prevalence of diabetes mellitus and its complications, increase in usage of complementary therapies (especially herbal therapies), and need of developing countries for indigenous medical methods inspired us to introduce some plants in Iranian traditional medicine that are used in the treatment of diabetes. By studying the topic of "ziabetes" (the synonym of diabetes) mentioned in some Iranian traditional medical texts, we collected the text related to the anti-diabetic edible plants and identified their scientific names. Pub-med and Scopus databases were used to search the hypoglycemic effects of these medicinal herbs on laboratory animal or human. Many medicinal herbs and minerals in single or compound form have been used in Iranian traditional medicine. Plants such as Punica granatum, Rosa damascene, Plantago psyllium, Glycyrrhiza glabra, Coriandrum sativum, Portulaca oleracea, and Rumex patientia are the most popular among them. The hypoglycemic effects of some of these plants on laboratory animal or human have been presented from different published articles. The effects of some anti-diabetic plants used in Iranian traditional medicine were evaluated and their efficacies were mainly demonstrated on animals. However, we need more clinical trials to prove the safety and efficacy of these herbs on human.

Antidiabetic Activity of Different Extracts of Myrtus Communis in Streptozotocin Induced Diabetic Rats

“…A number of other plant extracts have been reported to have antihyperglycemic activity through a stimulatory effect on insulin secretion [1,10,14,29]. These results indirectly indicate that part of the antihyperglycemic activity of this plant is through release of insulin from the pancreas and probably can act as a hypoglycemic agent.…”

“…The blood glucose lowering mechanism of various medicinal plants includes [1,4,13,14,16,27]: 1-regeneration of pancreatic β-cells 2-reduced glucose absorption from the gastrointestinal 3-effect on the level of glucagon 4-effect on insulin sensitivity, or 5-effect on insulin secretion from the beta cells.…”

“…In recent years, there has been renewed interest in using hypoglycemic traditional plants. There are many medicinal herbs which have been recommended for the treatment of diabetes [1,2,12,13].…”

Review of Cucurbita pepo (Pumpkin) its Phytochemistry and Pharmacology

“…Reporting that pumpkin exhibiting important physiological properties as wound healing, tumour growth inhibition, hypoglycaemic effects and immunomodulating [4]. The seeds are used as a vermifuge, treat problems of the urinary system, hypertension, prevents the formation of kidney stones, alleviate prostate disesases, and enhanced the erysipelas skin infection [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14].…”

The anti-diabetic potential of polysaccharides extracted from members of the cucurbit family: A review

“…Cucurbita moshata, also known as butternut squash has been used as a traditional medicine and health food in China for many years, as it is believed to be beneficial to the spleen and lungs (Li, Fu, Rui, Hu and Cai, 2005;Jiang and Du, 2011) in addition to having more specific therapeutic properties including anti-inflammatory, anti-tumour, cholesterol lowering, hypertensive, anti-parasitic and anti-diabetic effects (Fu, et al, 2006;Dabaghian, Kamalinejad, Shojaei and Fard, 2012) Momordica charantia is known by several different names including: karela, bitter gourd, bitter melon, balsam pear, bitter apple, African cucumber and wild cucumber (Krawinkel and Keding, 2006). It is grown in India, China, Eastern Africa and South America and is used in many of these countries to treat a variety of ailments.…”