Antidiabetic plants and formulations used by folk medicinal practitioners of two villages in Narail and Chuadanga districts, Bangladesh

Abstract

Diabetes is a debilitating disease affecting millions of people worldwide including Bangladesh. Recent years have witnessed a significant rise of diabetes in both urban and rural areas of Bangladesh because of dietary habits and a more sedentary lifestyle. The disease has no known cure in modern allopathic medicine; in fact modern medicine merely attempts to control the symptoms of diabetes like increased blood sugar levels, and tries to mitigate the various other complicated problems that can arise out of diabetes like increased cardiovascular risks, diabetic retinopathy, diabetic neuropathy, and kidney failure, to name only a few. On the other hand, folk medicinal practitioners of Bangladesh have been treating diabetes for centuries and claim to have effective treatments for the disease as well as treatment for mitigating other symptoms arising from diabetes. The folk medicinal practitioners (known usually as Kavirajes) use both simple and complex formulations of medicinal plants for treatment of the disease. It was the objective of the present survey to conduct a survey among the Kavirajes of two randomly selected villages in Narail and Chuadanga districts, Bangladesh to collect information on medicinal plants and formulations used by the Kavirajes for treatment of diabetes. It was observed that the Kavirajes of the two villages surveyed used a total of 24 medicinal plants or plant parts for treatment. While some treatment formulations consisted of only a single medicinal plant, there were also complex formulations involving multiple plant parts. A perusal of the relevant scientific literature indicated that a number of the plants used by the Kavirajes for treatment of diabetes had been reported to possess antidiabetic properties. The plants reported in the present survey thus present considerable potential for further scientific research towards finding novel lead compounds for treatment of diabetes