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Diabetic Mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder that has attracted worldwide concern. DM is caused due to lack
of insulin or ineffective production of insulin in the pancreas. A total of 463 million people have diabetes mellitus in 2019
and it was predictedto raise upto 578 million by 2030 and 700 million by 2045. High blood sugar gives rise to many
complications like diabetic retinopathy, diabetic nephropathy, atherosclerosis, hypercoagulability, cardiovascular disease,
coronary heart disease, abdominal obesity, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, cerebrovascular disease, coronary artery disease,
foot damage, skin complications, Alzheimer’s disease, hearing impairment, and depression. These life-threatening
complications make diabetes more severe than other diseases. Many synthetic drugs are developed, but still cure is not
provided by any of the molecules up to this date. Continuous use of some synthetic agents caused many severe side
effects, and thus the demands for non-toxic, affordable drugs are still awaited. Traditional treatments have been an
extremely valued source of medicine all over the human history. These are extensively used throughout the world
indicating that herbs are a growing part of modern and high-tech medicines. The World Health Organization (WHO) has
listed a total of 21,000 plants, which are used for medicinal purposes around the world, among them more than 400 plants
are available for the treatment of diabetes. Despite the fact that there are many herbal drugs are available for treating
diabetes, only a small number of these plants have received scientific and medical evaluation to assess their efficacy.
Trigonella foenum-graecum, Allium sativum, Caesalpinia bonduc, Ferrulaassafoetida, etc., are some of the medicinal
plants used for antidiabetic therapy. The presence of phenolic compounds, flavonoids, terpenoids and coumarins are
responsible for the antidiabetic nature of the medicinal plants. These constituents have shown a reduction in blood glucose
levels. Picnogenol, acarbose, miglitol, and voglibose are some of the examples of marketed drugs, which are obtained
from the natural origin and used as antidiabetic drugs. The active principles derived from the plants work through many
antidiabetic mechanisms, which include inhibition of α-glucosidase, α-amylase, and protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B activities. One of the major advantages of herbal drugs is the low level of side effects attributed to these medicines, and
this attracted the various researchers to develop new molecules for treatment of diabetes. In this review, emphasis will be
given on the recent advances in the field of herbal drugs to treat diabetes, to prevent the secondary complications arising
due to diabetes, and various herbal molecules in different stages of clinical trials.
Evaluation of Acute Toxicity of Some Medicinal Plants and their Combination in Albino Mice
