PUGOS nutrition for prevention & control of diabetes

Abstract

Diabetes is a multifactorial disease leading to several complications, and therefore demands a multiple therapeutic approach. Patients of diabetes either do not make enough insulin or their cells do not respond to insulin. In case of     total lack of insulin, patients are given insulin injections. Whereas in case of those where cells do  not  respond to  insulin many different drugs are developed taking into consideration possible disturbances  in  carbohydrate- metabolism. For example, to manage post-prandial hyper-glycaemia at digestive level, glycosidase inhibitors such as acarbose, miglitol and voglibose are used. These inhibit degradation of carbohydrates there by reducing the glucose absorption by the cells. To enhance glucose uptake by peripheral cells biguanide such as metformin is used. Sulphonylureas, like glibenclamide, is insulin tropic and work as secretogogue for pancreatic cells. Although several therapies are in use  for treatment, there  are certain limitations due to high cost  and side  effects such as development  of hypoglycemia, weight gain, gastrointestinal disturbances, liver toxicity etc. Based on recent advances and involvement of oxidative stress in complicating diabetes mellitus, efforts are on to find suitable antidiabetic and antioxidant therapy.

Medicinal plants are being looked upon once again for the treatment of diabetes. Many conventional drugs have been derived from prototypic molecules in medicinal plants. Metformin exemplifies an efficacious oral glucose-lowering agent. To date, over 400 traditional plant treatments for diabetes have been reported, although only a small number of these have received scientific and medical evaluation to assess their efficacy. The hypoglycemic effect of some herbal extracts has been confirmed in human and animal models of type 2 diabetes. The World Health Organization Expert Committee on diabetes has recommended that traditional medicinal herbs be further investigated. The present paper reviews the role of Pugos Nutrition for prevention & treatment of Diabetes.