Plants used for the treatment of diabetes in Jordan: a review of scientific evidence.
BACKGROUND
Diabetes is a serious disease which has reached epidemic proportions in many parts of the world. Despite the tremendous developments in medicinal chemistry, traditional medicine is still a common practice for the treatment of diabetes.


OBJECTIVE
In Jordanian traditional medicine, 69 plant species are used by diabetic patients to reduce glucose levels in blood. The aim of the present study is to report these plants and link their traditional use with scientific evidence confirming their claimed activity. The plant part(s) used, method(s) of preparation, common Arabic names, and other ethnopharmacological uses are also listed.


METHODS
The literature and databases (SciFinder, PubMed, ScienceDirect and Scirus) have been thoroughly investigated and the plants used have been grouped according to the reported scientific evidence.


RESULTS
Results showed that 40 plants have been reported to possess hypoglycemic activities in in vivo/in vitro experiments. Five plant species did not exhibit in vivo hypoglycemic activity, while 24 plants had not been studied for such an activity. Twenty plants had been screened for their α-amylase/α-glucosidase inhibitory activities.


CONCLUSIONS
The reported in vivo and in vitro hypoglycemic as well as α-amylase/α-glucosidase inhibitory activities of these plants are discussed.


CONCLUSIONS
Additional in vitro and in vivo studies are needed to test the hypoglycemic activity of the plants with claimed antidiabetic activity which has not yet been evaluated. Identification of the active ingredients of potent plants might generate lead compounds in drug discovery and development.
Al-Aboudi
Amal
A
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Jordan, Amman.
Afifi
Fatma U
FU
D000818:Animals; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000378:metabolism; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007597:Jordan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008517:Phytotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal
D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents