Recent advances in research on Gymnema sylvestre R. BR. (Masbedda).

Abstract

Medicinal herbs have been used to treat diabetes for many hundreds of years, and they offer a natural resource of ant diabetic products in Asia and Africa where the plants grow abundantly. The Indian herb Gymnema sylvestre R. Br. (Asclepideceae) has been used for centuries in Ayurvedic medicine for the treatment of diabetes. The mechanisms by which G. sylvestre produce ant diabetic effects include: recovery of beta cells, inhibition of glucose tolerance, stimulation of insulin release and increased glucose tolerance. The plant reversibly inhibits the sensation of sweet presumably by blocking sucrose receptors. Its impairment of sweet sensation is profound and dramatically alters the perception of swestness altering the perception of other primary tastes. The anti-sweet properties of G. sylvestre have been attributed to a variety of compounds including a group triterpenoid saonins known as gymnemic acids, and these are considered to be the active compounds responsible for the anti-diabetogenic effects of the leaf extracts of the plant. The leaves of the plant are also considered to be antiviral, diuretic, antiallergic, hypoglycemic, astringent, bitter, acrid thermogenic, anti inflammoatory, anodyne, digestive, liver tonic and hypolipidemic. It is also used as antibiotic, in stomachpains, as a blodd purifier and in rheumatism, for the treatment of obesity and dental caries. In addition, tannnins and saonin, the chief chemical constituents present in G. sylvestre are known to possess anti-arthritic activity. The increased recognition received by G. sylvestreplant is thus due its multiple medicinal uses.