title: Antidiabetic plants used among the ethnic communities of Unakoti district of Tripura, India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A large group of ethnic communities living in Unakoti district of Tripura, India is still dependent on traditional herbal remedies for treatment of diabetes. Valuable information collected from these communities in the present investigation is important in maintaining their indigenous knowledge of folklore medicine.
  
  
  METHODS
  Systematic and extensive field surveys were conducted during 2011-2013 among the ethnic inhabitants of Unokati district, Tripura, India covering all the seasons to collect information on their traditional herbal medication system for treatment of diabetes. Obtained data were analysed through fidelity level (FL), use value (UV) and relative frequency of citation (RFC) to authenticate the uniqueness of the species being used for diabetes treatment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In this current study a total of 39 medicinal plant species belonging to 37 genera and 28 families were presented, used by the traditional healers of Unakoti district, Tripura, India for diabetes treatment. FL, UV and RFC values of collected plants for the selected study area ranges between 06% and 100%, 0.07% and 2.64% and 0.02% and 0.51% respectively. Out of 39 collected plants, 11, 5 and 3 plant species have showed significant (<50%) FL, UV and RFC values respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Like many other ethnic communities of the world, inhabitants of Unakoti district depend on a traditional medication system to treat diabetes. Documented floras are locally available and need proper further pharmacological validation to endorse their traditional use in a modern health care system. This will help in the development of effective herbal antidiabetic medicines in near future.
authors.affiliation: Ethnobotany and Medicinal Plants Research Laboratory, Department of Life Science and Bioinformatics, Assam University, Silchar, Assam 788011, India. Electronic address: rgtarafdar@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ramananda
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ghosh Tarafdar
authors.affiliation: Ethnobotany and Medicinal Plants Research Laboratory, Department of Life Science and Bioinformatics, Assam University, Silchar, Assam 788011, India.
authors.forename: Sushmita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nath
authors.affiliation: Ethnobotany and Medicinal Plants Research Laboratory, Department of Life Science and Bioinformatics, Assam University, Silchar, Assam 788011, India.
authors.forename: Anupam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Das Talukdar
authors.affiliation: Ethnobotany and Medicinal Plants Research Laboratory, Department of Life Science and Bioinformatics, Assam University, Silchar, Assam 788011, India.
authors.forename: Manabendra
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dutta Choudhury
mesh_terms: D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000208:ethnology*; D005006:Ethnicity; D006801:Humans; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007194:India / Q000208:ethnology; D008517:Phytotherapy; D028321:Plant Preparations / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000145:classification
chemical_list: D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents; D028321:Plant Preparations
keywords: Antidiabetic; Fidelity level; Medicinal plants; Traditional knowledge; Unakoti district; Use value