REVIEW ON POTENT ANTI-DIABETIC PLANTS OR HERBS FROM TRADITIONAL MEDICINE

This review focuses on Indian Herbal drugs and plants used in the treatment of diabetes, especially in India. Diabetes is an important human ailment afflicting many from various walks of life in different countries. diabetes is one of the major causes of death and disability in the world. Natural products from medicinal plants, either as pure compounds or as standardized extracts, provide unlimited opportunities for new drug leads because of the unmatched availability of chemical diversity. Due to an increasing demand for chemical diversity in screening programs, seeking therapeutic drugs from natural products, interest particularly in edible plants has grown throughout the world. Botanicals and herbal preparations for medicinal usage contain various types of bioactive compounds. Phytochemicals identified from medicinal plants present an exciting opportunity for the development of new types of therapeutics for diabetes mellitus. Most prevalent among phytochemical groups are the alkaloids, glycosides, polysaccharides, and phenolics such as flavonoids, terpenoids and steroids. These include, Allium sativum, Eugenia jambolana, Momordica charantia Ocimum sanctum, Phyllanthus amarus, Pterocarpus marsupium, Tinospora cordifolia, Trigonella foenum graecum and Withania somnifera. Keywords: Phytochemicals, diabetes, standardized extracts, bioactive compounds