Oguntibeju Oluwafemi Omoniyi
Phytomedicine & Phytochemistry Group, Oxidative Stress Research Centre, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health & Wellness Sciences, Cape Peninsula University of Technology Bellville 7535, South Africa.
Int J Physiol Pathophysiol Pharmacol. 2019 Dec 15;11(6):224-237. eCollection 2019.
The use of medicinal plants in the treatment and management of diabetes mellitus is not very popular in Europe and USA as it is in Africa due to adequate availability of synthetic drugs and insulin for the effective management of diabetes in the western countries. In Africa, over 80% of the population live in poor resource settings and depend on medicinal plants for the treatment of various diseases including diabetes mellitus. Africa is very rich in medicinal plants and many of these plants are used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus. These plants play important role as alternative medicine due to their low cost, perception of their minimal side-effects, availability and knowledge about their use in the treatment of diseases. Many African medicinal plants have been reported to possess pancreatic beta cells regenerating insulin potential, hypoglycaemic effects, increase insulin secretion, enhance glucose uptake by adipose tissue or muscles and inhibit glucose absorption from the intestine and glucose production from the liver. Medicinal plants may potentially provide useful source of new oral hypoglycaemic agents for drug development in pharmaceutical application or as adjuncts for existing therapies in the management of diabetes. This review therefore focuses on selected African medicinal plants with hypoglycaemic and anti-diabetic activities that are used in traditional medicine in the treatment and management of diabetes mellitus. There is an urgent need to document the knowledge of medicinal plants that are used mainly in the treatment and management of diabetes mellitus in various parts of Africa.
由于西方国家有足够的合成药物和胰岛素用于有效管理糖尿病，药用植物在糖尿病治疗和管理中的应用在欧洲和美国并不像在非洲那样普遍。在非洲，超过80%的人口生活在资源匮乏的环境中，依靠药用植物治疗包括糖尿病在内的各种疾病。非洲拥有非常丰富的药用植物，其中许多植物被用于治疗糖尿病。由于这些植物成本低、被认为副作用极小、易于获取且人们了解其在疾病治疗中的用途，它们作为替代药物发挥着重要作用。据报道，许多非洲药用植物具有使胰腺β细胞再生胰岛素的潜力、降血糖作用、增加胰岛素分泌、增强脂肪组织或肌肉对葡萄糖的摄取，并抑制肠道对葡萄糖的吸收以及肝脏中葡萄糖的生成。药用植物可能为药物开发提供新的口服降糖药的有用来源，或作为糖尿病管理中现有疗法的辅助药物。因此，本综述重点关注在传统医学中用于糖尿病治疗和管理的具有降血糖和抗糖尿病活性的精选非洲药用植物。迫切需要记录主要用于非洲各地糖尿病治疗和管理的药用植物知识。
