Role of Herbal Plants in Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes (Review Article)

Author(s): Sharad Goswami* and Harshdeep Thakar

Abstract: Plants have shown to be beneficial for human health as they possess various activities that help to either prevent or treat various diseases. Herbal remedies are emerging to be more affordable, more effective in clinical practice and have less side effects than modern medicine. The literature indicates that attention to the use of phytochemical properties of medicinal plants in the pharmaceutical industry has increased dramatically. Secondary metabolites found in the plant are small molecules or macromolecules made from plants that include steroids, alkaloids, phenolic, lignans, carbohydrates and glycosides, etc. have a variety of biological benefits, such as anti-allergic, anticancer, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic and antioxidant activities. Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease caused by metabolic disorders in the pancreas β cells with hyperglycaemia. Hyperglycaemia can be caused by a deficiency of insulin production by pancreatic cells (Type 1 diabetes mellitus) or insufficient insulin production (Type 2 diabetes mellitus). Current diabetes medications focus on controlling and lowering blood sugar levels to normal levels. However, many modern drugs have many side effects causing serious health problems during treatment. Therefore, traditional medicine has been used for a long time and plays an important role as other medicines. In addition, over the past few years, some of the new bioactive drugs isolated from plants have shown antidiabetic activity that is far more effective than oral hypoglycaemic agents used in clinical therapy. Traditional medicine has developed a good clinical practice and indicates a bright future in the treatment of diabetes. This paper briefly reviews the active ingredients, as well as the medicinal effects of certain popular herbs that have been widely used in the treatment of diabetes.

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