Stevia rebaudiana LEAF EXTRACT REDUCES BLOOD GLUCOSE AND VISCERAL FAT ACCUMULATION IN ALLOXAN-INDUCED DIABETIC MICE

Abstract

Diabetes is a major global epidemic currently affecting millions of people. Unfortunately, the present pharmacological approach for the management of this serious disease has still a lot of rooms for improvement and innovation, which behooves the exploration of newer and safer agents. S. rebaudiana has emerged as a natural non-caloric sweetener and it is reported to have several health benefits including its antidiabetic effects. Thus, an in-depth investigation of this plant is needed in order to elucidate further its antidiabetic properties and its influence on the histological integrity of the major organs involved in carbohydrate metabolism. Inbred ICR mice (n=36) were randomly into six groups – one group served as the negative control while other five groups were given intraperitoneally with alloxan to induce diabetes and divided into the following groups: positive control (untreated group), glibenclamide (0.2mg/20g) treated, and 100%, 60%, and 10% stevia leaf extract treated, respectively. The experiment was conducted for two weeks where the treatments were orally given once a day and the following were evaluated: changes in body weight, fasting blood sugar (fBGL), oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), and gross and microscopic changes in the pancreas, liver, and kidney. Results showed that though stevia has no effect on the reduction of body weight, the different concentrations have comparable effects with glibenclamide in fBGL and OGTT. Furthermore, the different concentrations of stevia leaf extracts showed lesser visceral fat accumulation grossly, and lesser cellular degradation, microscopically.