Om Prakash¹, Rajesh Kumar¹, Ritika Srivastava¹, Pragya Tripathi¹, Shradha Mishra², Ajeet^3,

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic heterogeneous disorder; affecting the β-cells of endocrinal pancreatic gland, globally the numbers of cases of diabetes is increasing gradually. There are several medicines available in the market to treat diabetes mellitus but no drug is found to be fully effective and safe. However plants and plant-derived products have proven to be effective and safe in the treatment of various types of diabetes mellitus. In Indian system of medicine, several medicinal plants have found potential use as blood sugar lowering agents. Many of them have been scientifically explored for their usefulness in managing diabetes, the reports of which have been acknowledged and published in a number of scientific journals. At present most research work on diabetic drugs is targeted on plants and plants-derived products. Many natural products and their analogues have been identified as potent anti-diabetic agents. Here, an attempt is being made through this article to provide an in-depth and comprehensive review on various plant species that have been explored as anti-diabetic agents.

diabetes mellitus, insulin, natural products, glucose