Medicinal parts of mulberry (leaf, twig, root bark, and fruit) and compounds thereof are excellent traditional Chinese medicines and foods for diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the main chronic diseases severely threatening human health, of which type 2 DM (T2DM) is the most common type. Traditional Chinese medicine has unique advantages in the treatment of T2DM. Mulberry (Morus alba L.) is a medicinal and edible plant that is well known for its rich nutrition and medicinal values. The medicinal parts of mulberry include leaf, twig, root bark, and fruit, all of which have remarkable hypoglycemic effects. In this paper, the extracts and compounds with hypoglycemic effects from four medicinal parts of mulberry are reviewed. It is found that the hypoglycemic compounds in mulberry are mainly flavonoids, polysaccharides, alkaloids, stilbenes, and Diels-Alder compounds. Their mechanisms of action are mainly related to the regulation of lipid profiles and glucose metabolism, protection of pancreatic β-cells, promotion of insulin secretion, antioxidation, inhibition of protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B and α-glycosidase activities. In addition, mulberry treatment could change intestinal microbiota of mice, which are associated with insulin resistance and diabetes. This review provides reference for further research and development of different medicinal parts of mulberry for the treatment of DM.