The effect of oral administration of green tea and ginger extracts on blood glucose in diabetic rats.

Abstract

In recent years,green tea and ginger have become a subject of interest because of their beneficial effects on human health. The aim of the present study was to compare the effect of long term administration of green tea and ginger each alone to the effect of their combination on blood glucose level in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Method: A group of 50 male albino rats was divided into five groups (10 rats each group). The normal control group( NC) administered tap water, other animals were injected by streptozotocin 45mg/Kg body weight intraperitonially to induce diabetes mellitus and then divided into four groups ,diabetic control (DC) without treatment, diabetic group administered green tea extract for four weeks (DGT), diabetic group administered ginger extract for four weeks(DGI), and diabetic group administered mixture of green tea and ginger for four weeks (DGG), then we compare the blood glucose level at 1st,2nd,3rd, and 4th week of experiment. Results:We observed that in groups whose water drink was substituted by green tea and ginger extract, the blood glucose level was significantly( p less than 0.05) reduced as compared to diabetic animals. Importantly, we observed that blood glucose level was near control level when green tea was administered simultaneously with ginger extract.Conclusion: Combination of green tea and ginger may be of great value as hypoglycemic agent in diabetic patients, the synergism of their effect on glucose regulation process is underlying this results.