Medicinal plants in management of diabetes mellitus: an overview

Diabetes mellitus has become a global epidemic over the past few decades and is one among the major causes of death worldwide. Although various modern medicines are in the market, herbal medicines have usually maintained worldwide popularity in achieving the primary health care needs of the diabetic population because of the multiple adverse effects related to them. Herbal medicines have a prolonged history of being used as medications and sources of medication for diabetes mellitus. Some of them are enclosed within the modern therapeutic arsenal of medicine, and others are used as complementary therapy or as dietary supplements by patients with diabetes. The present review describes on traditional antidiabetic herbal medicines with an emphasis on scientific investigations conducted on antidiabetic medicinal plants, polypherbal mixtures, isolated compounds and their associated toxicities.