Medicinal plants with potential antidiabetic activity - A review of ten years of herbal medicine research (1990-2000)

Abstract

Medical plants play an important role in the management of diabetes mellitus especially in developing countries whereresources are meager. This review presents the profiles of plants with hypoglycaemic properties, reported in the literaturefrom 1990 to 2000. The profiles presented include information about the scientific name, family, methodology used, thedegree of hypoglycaemic activity and the active agents. The large number of plants described in this review (176 speciesbelonging to 84 families) clearly demonstrated the importance of herbal plants in the treatment of diabetes. It also shows theeffort to isolate new potential antidiabetic agents. The plant families, including the species (sp), most studied for theirconfirmed hypoglycaemic effects include: Leguminoseae (11 sp), Lamiaceae (7 sp), Liliaceae (8 sp), Cucurbitaceae (7 sp),Asteraceae (6 sp), Moraceae (6 sp), Rosaceae (6 sp), Euphorbiaceae (5 sp) and Araliaceae (5 sp). The most studied speciesare: Citrullus colocynthis (Opuntia streptacantha Lem. (Cactaceae), Trigonella foenum greacum L. (Leguminosea),Momordica charantia L. (Cucurbitaceae), Ficus bengalensis L. (Moraceae), Polygala senega L. (Polygalaceae), andGymnema sylvestre R. (Asclepiadaceae). Many studies have confirmed the benefits of medicinal plants with hypoglycaemiceffects in the management of diabetes mellitus. The effects of these plants may delay the development of diabeticcomplications and correct the metabolic abnormalities. Moreover, during the past few years some of the new bioactive drugsisolated from hypoglycaemic plants showed antidiabetic activity with more efficacy than oral hypoglycaemic agents used inclinical therapy. (Int J Diabetes Metab 14: 1-25, 2006)