Antidiabetic vegetables presently traded in Sri Lanka's Vavuniya District

Abstract

Diabetes affected about 537 million adults aged 20 to 79 in 2021. Higher vegetable intake helps to manage type 2 diabetes mellitus. Thus, this research aimed to recognize and record the vegetable species currently sold in Sri Lanka's Vavuniya District. At least three fieldwork visits were made between January 2019 and January 2022 to each of the Vavuniya District's major market sites, as well as the neighboring vegetable shops and street stalls. Until June 2022, published relevant research papers were searched in the Web of Science, PubMed, and ScienceDirect databases for the recorded vegetable species in this study to assess the antidiabetic scientific proof. This study recognized and recorded 72 vegetable species from 25 families. Consequently, a study of the literature on 65 vegetable species found that most of the vegetable species had in vivo (37%), followed by clinical (15%) and in vitro (14%) scientific evidence, and six antidiabetic active substances were isolated from the analyzed vegetable species. This work establishes the foundation for additional studies on the fruit species traded in Vavuniya District.