Antidiabetic Plants: A Strong Alternative of ...

Antidiabetic Plants: A Strong Alternative of Insulin

Author Name : Ananya Roy Chowdhury

ABSTRACT Diabetes mellitus was one of the major threats to the survival of mankind before the discovery of the concept of insulin. The endocrine hormone regulates the carbohydrate, triglyceride and protein metabolism throughout the body and controls the entry of glucose in to the blood. At the time World War II when insulin was not available in several countries, search was started for an alternative from plant sources. Many herbal remedies, either individually or in combinations in different forms, like, decoctions, leaf powder, pastes, pills and fry have been recommended for the diabetes treatment. From this review it was suggested that, the group of plants which exhibit hypoglycaemic potentiality mostly belongs to the angiosperm family, such as, Labiatae, Liliaceae, Compositae, Cucurbitaceae, Leguminosae, Rosaceae, Moraceae, Caesalpiniaceae etc. The most potent plants are Acacia Arabica arabica, Allium sativum, Momordica charantia, Ficus benghalensis, Daucus carota, Cuminumnigrum,Ficus religiosaetc. The review describes some newly reported bioactive agents and compounds isolated from plants such as, leurosine, catharanthine, galegine, vindoline, strictnin, isostrictnin, epicatechin, cellobioside exhibiting significant antidiabetic activities with more efficiency.