Studies on the activity of individual plants of an antidiabetic plant mixture.

A blood glucose lowering extract of a mixture of five plants in use by Kuwaiti diabetics was studied for the identification of its active component(s). Only the extracts of myrrh and aloe gums effectively increased glucose tolerance in both normal and diabetic rats. The remaining components, gum olibanum, Nigella sativa seeds and gum assafoetida were without effect.