A review of scientific literature on anti-diabetic activity in medicinal plants used by folk medicinal practitioners of two villages in Narail and Chuadanga districts, Bangladesh for treatment of diabetes

Abstract

An ethnomedicinal survey conducted amongst folk medicinal practitioners (Kavirajes) of two villages in Narail and Chuadanga districts of Bangladesh revealed the use of twenty four medicinal plant species for treatment of diabetes or alleviating diabetic symptoms in human patients. Perusal of the available scientific literature on the anti-diabetic plant species showed that out of the twenty four medicinal plants used, fifteen plant species have been reported in the scientific literature to possess considerable anti-diabetic properties directly in the form of ability to reduce blood sugar following administration, or possess properties, which can alleviate diabetic symptoms or reduce the risk factors for diabetes, including anti-oxidant and hypolipidemic properties. Overall, it can be concluded that the considerable expertise gained by the Kavirajes through longterm practice as well as passage of accumulated knowledge from generation to generation has practical validity and is not based on superstitions or myths about these plants. The close coincidences between the use of medicinal plants by the Kavirajes and their real time scientific validity studies suggest that these plants (some of which are yet to be scientifically studied) have considerable potential for discovery of novel anti-diabetic agents. Diabetes is a debilitating disease affecting millions of people worldwide including Bangladesh, and for which allopathic medicine has no known cure. As such, discovery of novel anti-diabetic agents, which even though they may not cause complete cure, but can alleviate various diabetic symptoms in a more efficient manner or reduce the risk factors leading to diabetes will be of considerable benefit to mankind. As such, these medicinal plants used by the Kavirajes need to be scientifically studied in a more rigorous manner, and efforts should be made to collect information from other Kavirajes in other villages and towns of Bangladesh on anti-diabetic plants and formulations for their uses