E-Paper
Traditional Indian medicine can cure diabetes: Study
Study shows benefits of medicines such as India's curry leaf for treating diabetes, among remedies for other ailments like cancer.
Grandmothers and hakims have been using them from time immemorial, but scientific research now confirms the benefits of traditional remedies for a range of ailments, including cancer.
Data presented at the British Pharmaceutical Conference here on Wednesday show the real benefits of these traditional medicines - including Indian diabetes treatments, Ghanaian wound healing agents and cancer treatments of the east.
These findings by researchers are meant to help local people identify which plants to recommend and may lead to potential new compounds for pharmaceutical use, the organisers of the conference said.
Among the papers presented at the conference - titled "Medicines: From Cell to Society" - was one on India's ubiquitous curry leaf tree, Murraya koenigii, which is among the more commonly used condiments in the South Asian country.
Researchers at the Department of Pharmacy at King's College, London, said curry leaves help fight diabetes based on investigations that clearly showed that the plant has potential anti-diabetic activity.
The researchers developed a test for anti-diabetic activity based on inhibition of a digestive enzyme, pancreatic alpha-amylase. This enzyme is involved in the breakdown of dietary starch to glucose.
A diabetic does not produce enough insulin to cope with rapid rises in blood glucose levels. But slowing the rate of starch breakdown, by blocking alpha-amylase, can lead to a more even trickle of glucose into the bloodstream.
Professor Peter Houghton, head of the King's College research team, describes it "like restricting people coming out of a station gate in the rush hour so that they come out one at a time rather than seven at a time".
Extracts from the curry-leaf tree showed significant enzyme inhibition and researchers are now looking to identify the specific active compounds.
Once the component is isolated and characterised, researchers hope to evaluate whether it has advantages - in terms of its efficacy or side effects - over currently marketed anti-diabetic drugs, which interfere with starch digestion.
Similar papers were also presented on the healing properties of some plants used by the Ashantis, one of the largest ethnic groups in Ghana, as also in the Thai and Chinese traditional medicines such as star anise and aquatic weeds.
