Böcker av Maruf Ahmed

Alternative medicines for diabetes; Diabetes is a serious metabolic disorder with micro- and macrovascular complications that result in significant morbidity and mortality. Statistical Projections for India suggest that the number of diabetics will rise from 15 million in 1995 to 57 million in the year 2025 (King et al., 1998). Since time immemorial, individuals with diabetes have been treated orally in folk medicine with a variety of plant extracts. Recently, there has been increasing interest in the use of medicinal plants. In the present study the authors tried to investigate the anti diabetic properties of Ocimum sanctum and Aegle marmelos by evaluating the comparative anti hyperglycemic and hypolipidemic activities of these herbs in alloxan induced diabetic rats. The authors believe that these plants may complement the use of such effective anti diabetic drug as tolbutamide or chlorpropamide in the treatment of diabetes and also contribute to the development of new prescription drugs for treatment of diabetes as either biochemical models or templates for drug synthesis.

The diabetic population has reached the 100 million mark.Decreased physical activity, increasing obesity, stress, and changes in food consumption are responsible for the increasing prevalence in the past two decades. As the incidence continues to grow, diabetes is being projected to be the world''s primary killer in the next 25 years. In the recent years there has been marked interest in the use of plants for the treatment of diabetes. Various plants are found in many countries which have been indicated as having antidiabetic and hypolipidemic effect. The plants Brassica oleracea and Allium sativum are used as folk medicine in the villages to treat diabetes. Accordingly, the different extracts of Brassica oleracea and Allium sativum showed antidiabetic and hypolipidemic effects on normal, glucose induced and alloxan induced diabetic rats. Petroleum ether, ethyl acetate and chloroform were used for fractionation from rectified spirit extract of Brassica olercea and methanolic extract of Allium sativum.