Phytomedicine for Diabetes mellitus: An overview

Diabetes mellitus is a complex metabolic disorder resulting from either insulininsufficiency or insulin dysfunction. Diabetes mellitus affect most of the people of bothdeveloped and developing countries. The treatment of diabetes with synthetic drugs is costlyand chances of side effects are high. Phytomedicine has been used since ancient time inmany parts of the world where access to modern medicine is limited. Low-fat vegan diet hasimproved glycemic control in type II diabetic patients. Photochemical identified frommedicinal plants presents an exciting opportunity for the development of new types oftherapeutics for diabetes mellitus. Most prevalent of photochemical groups are the alkaloids,terpenes, and phenolics. Several formulations like herbal teas, extracts, decoctions, infusions,tinctures, etc are prepared from medicinal plants. Despite considerable progress in thedevelopment of synthetic drugs, the search for the invention of phytomedicine as alternativetherapy is progressing.