Antidiabetic components contained in vegetables and legumes

Abstract

Epidemiological analyses in a large Chinese population have revealed that consumption of vegetables and legumes is inversely associated with the risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D). However, the health benefits of these plants have not been fully explained, which stimulated our interest to identify antidiabetic components from vegetables and legumes through searching medicinal databases, especially those containing traditional Chinese medicines. The results not only provide meaningful clues to understanding the antidiabetic potentials of these plants but also display the possibility of pinpointing food component functions by searching medicinal databases. © 2008 by the authors; licensee Molecular Diversity Preservation International.