Nowadays, much research attention is focused on underutilized berry crops due to the high antioxidant activity of fruits. Black crowberry (Empetrum nigrum L.) represents an important source of flavonols (quercetin, rutin, myricetin, naringenin, naringin, morin, and kaempferol) and anthocyanins. The fruit components could be utilised as natural colourants or as a part of functional foods and, be...

A promising approach for treating diabetes mellitus (DM) is to decrease postprandial hyperglycaemia by suppressing carbohydrate digestion using α-glucosidase inhibitors. Pluchea indica leaf extracts possess inhibitory activity against intestinal maltase. Enzyme assay-guided fractionation by chromatography yielded five active caffeoylquinic acid derivatives (1-5). Their structures were elucidate...

The fasting serum level of gastrin was determined by radioimmunoassay in 41 normal subjects, 27 patients with duodenal ulceration, 12 patients with gastric ulceration, and 8 patients following "complete" vagotomy. The patients with duodenal ulceration had significantly higher serum levels of gastrin (1.3 +/- S.D. 0.7 ng./ml.) than normal subjects (0.4 +/- S.D. 0.3 ng./ml.), patients with gastri...

The present review assesses the potential of the Phaseolus vulgaris a-amylase inhibitor isoform 1 (a-AI1) starch blockers as a widely used remedy against obesity and diabetes. Consumption of the a-amylase inhibitor causes marginal intraluminal a-amylase activity facilitated by the inhibitor’s appropriate structural, physico-chemical and functional properties. As a result there is decreased post...

Dear Editor, Management of diabetes requires an understanding of the association between fasting plasma glucose (FPG), postprandial plasma glucose (PPG) and HbA1c—a tripartite model known as the glucose triad.1 A higher contribution of PPG relative to FPG in patients with HbA1c levels of ≤7% (53 mmol/mol) has been observed in a seminal article published in 20032 and further observed in several ...

To define the type of dietary fibre of fibre analogue with the greatest potential use in diabetic treatment, groups of four to six volunteers underwent 50-g glucose tolerance tests (GTT) with and without the addition of either guar, pectin, gum tragacanth, methylcellulose, wheat bran, or cholestyramine equivalent to 12 g fibre. The addition of each substance significantly reduced blood glucose ...

The traditional use of certain plants by the tribal community in central India involves using the young leaves for several ailments, including hyperglycaemia; this study was performed to evaluate the effects of the leaf extracts from 9 such plants in the management of diabetes. Initially, hypoglycemic screening was performed on normal rats whose blood glucose levels were measured before and aft...

In subjects with untreated type 2 diabetes, we previously determined that a weight-maintenance, non-ketogenic diet containing 30 % protein, 50 % fat and 20 % carbohydrate (30:50:20) decreased the percentage total glycohaemoglobin (%tGHb) by 2.2 % glycohaemoglobin over 5 weeks compared to a diet recommended for the American public (protein-fat-carbohydrate 15:30:55). Both the fasting and postpra...

In West Indian folklore, a variety of plants are used for medicinal purposes. One such plant, Bixa orellana (annatto), is commonly used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus. Preliminary studies have shown that a crude annatto seed extract exhibited either glucose lowering or hyperglycaemia-inducing activity depending on how it was further manipulated. This present investigation sought to deter...