A Systematic Review of Orthosiphon stamineus Benth. in the Treatment of Diabetes and Its Complications

(1) Background: Orthosiphon stamineus Benth. is a traditional medicine used in the treatment of diabetes and chronic renal failure in southern China, Malaysia, and Thailand. Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disease and the number of diabetic patients in the world is increasing. This review aimed to systematically review the effects of O. stamineus in the treatment of diabetes and its complications and the pharmacodynamic material basis. (2) Methods: This systematic review was conducted following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), using the databases ScienceDirect, PubMed, and Web of Science. (3) Results: Thirty-one articles related to O. stamineus and diabetes were included. The mechanisms of O. stamineus in the treatment of diabetes and its complications mainly included inhibiting α-amylase and α-glucosidase activities, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, regulating lipid metabolism, promoting insulin secretion, ameliorating insulin resistance, increasing glucose uptake, promoting glycolysis, inhibiting gluconeogenesis, promoting glucagon-likepeptide-1 (GLP-1) secretion and antiglycation activity. Phenolic acids, flavonoids and triterpenoids might be the main components for hypoglycemia effects in O. stamineus. (4) Conclusion: O. stamineus could be an antidiabetic agent to treat diabetes and its complications. However, it needs further study on a pharmacodynamic substance basis and the mechanisms of effective constituents.

The Role of Natural Products on Diabetes Mellitus Treatment: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

The present study was carried out to relate the role of natural products in the metabolism of an increasingly prevalent disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus. At present, in addition to the pharmacological resources, an attempt is being made to treat diabetes mellitus with natural products. We carried out a systematic review of studies focusing on the role of natural products on diabetes mellitus treatment. The bibliographic search was done through Medline (Pubmed) and Web of Science. From 193 records, the title and summary of each were examined according to the criteria and whether they met the selection criteria. A total of 15 articles were included; after reviewing the literature, it is apparent that the concept of natural products is ambiguous as no clear boundary has been established between what is natural and what is synthetic, therefore we feel that a more explicit definition of the concept of “natural product” is needed. Gut microbiota is a promising therapeutic target in the treatment of diabetes. Therefore, it would be necessary to work on the relationship between the microbiome and the benefits in the treatment of diabetes mellitus. Treatment based solely on these natural products is not currently recommended as more studies are needed.