Current status of Indian medicinal plants with antidiabetic potential: a review

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic endocrine disorder caused by an absolute or relative lack of insulin and/or reduced insulin activity that results in hyperglycemia and abnormalities in carbohydrate, fat and protein metabolism. Diabetes has emerged as a major healthcare problem in India. A national urban survey in 2005 observed that the prevalence of diabetes in urban India in adults was 15.1%. Recent data have illustrated the impact of socio-economic transition occurring in rural India. The transition has occurred in the last 15 years and the prevalence has risen from 2.4% to 6.4%[1]. In India, indigenous remedies have been used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus since the time of Charaka and Sushruta. Plants have always been an exemplary source of drugs and many of the currently available drugs have been derived directly or indirectly from them. The ethnobotanical information reports that about 800 plants may possess anti-diabetic potential[2]. Several such herbs have shown anti-diabetic activity when assessed using presently available experimental techniques. A wide array of plant derived active principles representing numerous chemical compounds has demonstrated activity consistent with their possible use in the treatment of insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. Among these are alkaloids, glycosides, galactomannan gun, polysaccharides, peptidoglycans, hypoglycans, guani-dine, steroids, carbohydrates, glycopeptides, terpenoids, amino acids and inorganic ions. Even there is the discovery of widely used hypoglycemic drugs, metformin came from the traditional approach by using Galega officinalis. Thus, plants are a potential source of antidiabetic drugs (and others too) but this fact has not gained enough momentum in the scientific community. Out of the several medicinal plants used in the treatment of diabetes, some were reviewed in the present study[3-6].