ANTI-DIABETIC PROPERTIES OF ASIAN EVERYDAY FOOD
HTML Full TextANTI-DIABETIC PROPERTIES OF ASIAN EVERYDAY FOOD
Nadia Wajid * and Fatima Ali
The University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan.
ABSTRACT: Diabetes mellitus is indicated by abnormal glycemic control. Blurred vision, retinopathy, dry skin, nerve damage, and kidney damage are among the common complications associated with diabetes mellitus. Diet, exercise, medications, and insulin therapy are considered better therapeutic options for diabetes mellitus. Herbal medicines have been a highly valued source of medicine throughout human history. They are widely used today, indicating that herbs are growing parts of modern high-tech medicines and some of the herbal plants and active chemical constituents have a role in the management of diabetes mellitus. In Asia, many herbs are used in everyday food, which has anti-diabetic effects directly or is effective to improve secondary complications like nephropathy, nephropathy, cardiomyopathy, etc. Allium cepa (onion), Allium sativum (garlic), Zingiber officinale (ginger), Coriandrum sativum (coriander) are the common herbs used in Asian everyday food which have been reported to alleviate diabetic conditions. The present review summarizes the benefits of these common herbs in diabetes mellitus.
Keywords: Diabetes, Herbs, Onion, Garlic, Coriander, Ginger
INTRODUCTION: Diabetes mellitus is caused by a deficiency of insulin hormone, imperfect insulin act, or both, usually a combination of hyperglycemia and the heterogeneous disorders with high blood glucose level 1. Diabetes mellitus and its management have been recognized since the Middle Ages 2. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared that around 80% world’s population relay on herbal therapies due to lack of side effects 3. Many plants produce useful compounds for the production of fungicides, insecticides, and industrial raw materials.
In 1980, (WHO) the World Health Organization recommended researchers to find out the therapeutic ability of multiple herbs 4. It has been estimated that up to one-third of patients with diabetes mellitus use some form of complementary and alternative medicine. To time, approximately 400 ancient plants have been used to treat diabetes, among which only a few have been found to have medicinal importance for reducing blood glucose in non-insulin dependent diabetic patients 5. Hypoglycemic activity of different plants’ products had been used in traditional medicines all over in the world 6. Asian food contains some of the herbs which are rich in compounds active for therapy of diabetes. Some of the important food plants have been discussed in the present review.
Onion: Scientific Name: Allium cepa
Allium cepa, a spice plant, is commonly known as onion and belongs to the family Liliaceae. Since ancient times, it has been used traditionally for the treatment of different diseases Akash et al. 7 In agriculture, onion is very commonly cultivated in many countries globally. Onion has multi-dimensional effects on diabetes from lowering of blood glucose, lipids, oxidative stress, and chances of thrombosis 8, 9.
Allium cepa contains sulfur compounds like S-methyl cysteine and flavonoids (quercetin) which are mainly responsible for the hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic, and anti-oxidative stress activities. Extracts of onion normalize the activities of liver hexokinase, glucose 6-phosphatase, and HMG coenzyme-A reductase 7. Different components of onion-like Cycloalliin, S-methyl-L-cysteine, S-propyl-L-cysteine sulfoxide, dimethyl trisulfide, and S-methyl-L-cysteine sulfoxide inhibit the formation of oil drop in cells 10.
Quercetin has an antiapoptotic effect for liver cells so effective for diabetic hepatopathy 11. Onion has also been shown antithrombotic effect by inhibiting collagen- or arachidonic acid (AA) induced platelet aggregation and collagen-induced AA release response 12.
Garlic:
Scientific Name: Allium sativum
Garlic (Allium Sativum) has been used for various ailments in herbal medicine. Garlic has controversial researches for therapy of diabetes because of inconsistent data from animal models and improper scientific data from humans. Garlic prevents diabetes progression through its antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and antiglycative properties 13.
Garlic extracts have been seriously considering red as medicine in recent years as it can reduce serum lipids, blood pressure, and plasma viscosity 14. Extracts of garlic were found to have anti-diabetic activities as they decrease the level of glucose, serum triglycerides, uric acid, urea, creatinine, complete cholesterol, AST and ALT 15, 16.
Ginger:
Scientific Name: Zingiber officinale
Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is considered as an effective therapy against diabetes mellitus as it prevents secondary complications. It improves insulin sensitivity, lipid profile, and reduces CRP and PGE₂17, 18, 19. It inhibits multiple transcriptional pathways, lipid peroxidation, carbohydrate-metabolizing enzymes, and HMG-CoA reductase and activates antioxidant enzyme activity and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptors. So it not only improves insulin sensitivity or synthesis but also protects β-cells of pancreatic islets, reduces fat accumulation, decreases oxidative stress, and increases glucose uptake by the tissues.
It also acts as an antioxidant hence improves nephropathy and diabetic cataract 20. Ginger has also been reported to reverse diabetic proteinuria in diabetic rats 21. Oral supplementation of ginger improves glycemic indices, TAC, and PON-1 activity 22 reduces FBS (fasting blood sugar) and HbA1c and improves QUICKI (quantitative insulin sensitivity check index) 23.
Coriander:
Scientific Name: Coriandrum sativum
Coriandrum sativum (CS) is a daily used food ingredient in Asia, and it is claimed that CS can be used for many ailments. All parts are used for flavoring or treatment of various disorders. It is rich in lipids (petroselinic acid), essential oil (high in linalool), and many bioactive. It has anti-microbial, anti-oxidant, anti-diabetic, anxiolytic, anti-epileptic, anti-depressant, anti-mutagenic, anti-inflammatory, anti-dyslipidemic, anti-hypertensive, neuroprotective and diuretic properties 24.
CS extract has many bioactive compounds like phenolics, flavonoids, steroids, and tannins. It lowers blood glucose, total serum cholesterol, triglycerides, and low-density lipoprotein inhibit lipid peroxidation and scavenges 2, 2-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl free radical. It also increases the activity of antioxidant enzymes such as catalase, superoxide dismutase, and glutathione 25. Aqueous extract of CS inhibits gastrointestinal α-glucosidase hence has anti-diabetic properties 26. It decreases atherosclerosis, increases cardioprotective indices, and several components of diabetes as metabolic syndrome 27.
CONCLUSION: From the above data, it may be concluded that Asian everyday herbs are beneficial against diabetes and its complications. Further studies are required to evaluate the improvement of the efficacy of these herbs.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Authors are thankful to The University of Lahore for providing the funding for conducting studies.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST: Authors declare no conflict of interest.
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How to cite this article:
Wajid N and Ali F: Anti-diabetic properties of Asian everyday food. Int J Life Sci & Rev 2017; 3(7): 76-78. doi: 10.13040/IJPSR.0975-8232.IJLSR.3(7).76-78.
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