THE TREATMENT OF DIABETES MELLITUS WITH TRADITIONAL HERBAL MEDICINE: CURE OR MYTH?

Abstract

Millions of individuals around the world are diagnosed with diabetes mellitus. Poor management of elevated level of blood glucose can result in complications that can impact vision, the heart, kidneys and nerves. The cost of purchase and side effects affiliated with the use of oral anti-diabetic drugs makes herbal medicine an attractive therapeutic alternative for diabetic patients. Furthermore, there is wide spread belief that use of herbs has more therapeutic effects than allopathic medicine. This review aims to ascertain the potency of indigenous medicine in the cure or management of diabetes mellitus by utilizing relevant scientific literatures. A number of databases including Google scholar, Scopus, PubMed, Research gate etc. were searched for pertinent literature reports. The output from the review identified some plants with glucose lowering ability. Examples of such medicinal plants include Moringa oleifera, Azadirachta indica, Allium sativum, Gingko biloba, Momordica charantia etc. The anti-diabetic effect of these medicinal plants is attributed to the presence of bioactive principles called phytochemicals which may reduce elevated blood glucose by various mechanisms such as enhancing the cells’ sensitivity to insulin, preventing the β cells of the pancreas from degenerating and inactivating some key enzymes involved in carbohydrate metabolism. In conclusion, there is no scientific evidence to prove that herbal medicine cures diabetes mellitus. Rather, the reported mechanisms of actions of the bioactive principles in these medicinal plants makes them likely candidates in the control of elevated blood sugar.