The Management of Diabetes Mellitus Using Medicinal Plants and Vitamins

Int J Mol Sci. 2023 May 22;24(10):9085. doi: 10.3390/ijms24109085.

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a serious chronic metabolic disease that is associated with hyperglycemia and several complications including cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease. DM is caused by high levels of blood sugar in the body associated with the disruption of insulin metabolism and homeostasis. Over time, DM can induce life-threatening health problems such as blindness, heart disease, kidney damage, and stroke. Although the cure of DM has improved over the past decades, its morbidity and mortality rates remain high. Hence, new therapeutic strategies are needed to overcome the burden of this disease. One such prevention and treatment strategy that is easily accessible to diabetic patients at low cost is the use of medicinal plants, vitamins, and essential elements. The research objective of this review article is to study DM and explore its treatment modalities based on medicinal plants and vitamins. To achieve our objective, we searched scientific databases of ongoing trials in PubMed Central, Medline databases, and Google Scholar websites. We also searched databases on World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform to collect relevant papers. Results of numerous scientific investigations revealed that phytochemicals present in medicinal plants (Allium sativum, Momordica charantia, Hibiscus sabdariffa L., and Zingiber officinale) possess anti-hypoglycemic activities and show promise for the prevention and/or control of DM. Results also revealed that intake of vitamins C, D, E, or their combination improves the health of diabetes patients by reducing blood glucose, inflammation, lipid peroxidation, and blood pressure levels. However, very limited studies have addressed the health benefits of medicinal plants and vitamins as chemo-therapeutic/preventive agents for the management of DM. This review paper aims at addressing this knowledge gap by studying DM and highlighting the biomedical significance of the most potent medicinal plants and vitamins with hypoglycemic properties that show a great potential to prevent and/or treat DM.

Keywords: anti-diabetic; diabetes mellitus; medicinal plants; phytochemicals; treatment; vitamins.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Blood Glucose / metabolism
  • Diabetes Mellitus* / drug therapy
  • Humans
  • Hypoglycemic Agents / pharmacology
  • Hypoglycemic Agents / therapeutic use
  • Plant Extracts / pharmacology
  • Plants, Medicinal* / chemistry
  • Vitamin A / therapeutic use
  • Vitamin K
  • Vitamins / therapeutic use

Substances

  • Vitamins
  • Hypoglycemic Agents
  • Plant Extracts
  • Blood Glucose
  • Vitamin A
  • Vitamin K

Grants and funding

This work was supported in part by the AIM-AHEAD Coordinating Center, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Grant # 3OT2OD032581-01S, and by the National Science Foundation (NSF), NSF-IUSE, Grant # 2142465 at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Tallahassee, FL, United States. This work was also partly funded by NIH, Grant # U54MD013376 at Morgan State University, MD, United States. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official view of the NIH or NSF.