Antidiabetic Potential of Herbal Plants

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus (DM), both insulin-dependent DM (IDDM) and non-insulin dependent DM (NIDDM) is a common and serious metabolic disorder throughout the world. Traditional plant treatments have been used throughout the world for the therapy of diabetes mellitus. Among many medications and polyherbal plants, several herbs have been known to cure and control diabetes; additionally they have no side effects. Diabetes mellitus is a dreadful disease found in all parts of the world and is becoming a serious threat to mankind health. Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by high blood sugar (glucose) levels thatresult from defects in insulin secretion, or action, or both. Thus, plants are a potential source of anti-diabetic drugs which can be proved by the ethnobotanical information reports about 800 plants that may possess anti-diabetic potential. Although, synthetic oral hypoglycemic agents/insulin is the mainstream treatment of diabetes and effective in controlling hyperglycaemia, they have prominent side effects and fail to significantly alter the course of diabetic complications. This forms the main reason for an increasing number of people finding alternating therapies that may have less severe or no side effects. This article presents a review on some reported antidiabetic medicinal plants (with their botanical name, common name, constituent and mechanism of action for antidiabetic action) and plant based marketed polyherbal herbal formulations