Abstract
Aims: Diabetes mellitus (DM) (Ziabetus Shakri) is a common metabolic disease affecting 150,000,000 people worldwide. Despite the recent advancements in management of Diabetes its relative co-morbidities and mortality is ever increasing globally. Unani scholars had claimed the effectiveness of several anti-diabetic drugs in the classical texts in the management of DM, but it lacks scientific documentation. Hence, a clinical trial was contemplated to evaluate the efficacy of test drug Tahlab (Spirulina) in patients of type 2 DM. Methods: The study was a single blind randomized standard control conducted on 40 patients of type 2 DM. 30 subjects were allocated to test and 10 to control group. Test group received 7 grams of Tahlab powder twice a day, and control group received Metformin (500 mg) 1 tablet twice a day for a period of 45 days. Subjective and objective parameters were assessed at 0, 15th, 30th, 45th day. Results: The Mean score for FBS in test group has declined from 245.53 to 204.87 and PPBS from 345.73 to 303.67 respectively. The Mean score for FBS in control group has declined from 227.60 to 191.80 and PPBS from 329.60 to 282.80 respectively. Intergroup comparison revealed test drug to be similar to that of control drug in reducing FBS and PPBS. HbA1c and urine sugar remained unaltered in both groups. The results were assessed statistically using two tailed student t test, paired proportion test and Fischer exact test. Conclusions: The study revealed that the test drug is safe and equally effective when compared to control drug.
Highlights
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder with multiple etiologies, characterized by chronic hyperglycemia with disturbances of carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action or both [1]
Tahlab (Spirulina) has been claimed by the ancient Unani physicians in the classical texts to be effective in the treatment of Diabetes like condition
Strenuous efforts are underway to explore herbal therapies to treat Diabetes mellitus which has become a menace for the Asian population as its prevalence is increasing at an alarming rate
Summary
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder with multiple etiologies, characterized by chronic hyperglycemia with disturbances of carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action or both [1]. People with diabetes are at increased risk of cardiovascular, peripheral vascular and cerebrovascular diseases [10]. Worldwide prevalence of diabetes was estimated to 8.3% with age between 40 to 59 years and 46% of cases undiagnosed in 2013, with India alone accounting for 65.1 million and in China 98.4 million patients. Half of the people with diabetes do not know they have it, 80% people with diabetes live in low and middle income countries, half of the people who die from diabetes are under the age of 60. Every six seconds a person dies from diabetes. The cost of diabetes care is enormous and escalating worldwide. It is estimated 11% (548 billion USD) is spent on diabetes treatment [11]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
