The festivities are here again! Free drinks and food are easily available, making people to over indulge. Over eating and drinking have been associated with obesity and diabetes. However, researchers suggest that increasing the intake of bitter leaf, lime, scent leaf, pawpaw and alligator pepper offers protection against diabetes. CHUKWUMA MUANYA writes.
IT is said to have no cure but can only be managed. But natural medicine experts disagree. They say diabetes can be prevented and treated with a combination of bitter leaf, pawpaw, lime, scent leaf, alligator pepper, among others.
IT is said to have no cure but can only be managed. But natural medicine experts disagree. They say diabetes can be prevented and treated with a combination of bitter leaf, pawpaw, lime, scent leaf, alligator pepper, among others.
A recent study has identified principal anti-diabetic plants used in five districts of Lagos State reputed for the treatment of diabetes. The plants according to the recent study published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology include bitter leaf (Vernonia amygdalina), black jack (Bidens pilosa), pawpaw (Carica papaya), lime (Citrus aurantiifolia), scent leaf (Ocimum gratissimum), Momordica charantia (bitter melon) and Morinda lucida (brimstone tree).
The study, titled “Inventory of antidiabetic plants in selected districts of Lagos State, Nigeria,” was authored by Gbolade A. Adebayo of Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Sagamu campus, Ogun State.
Vernonia amygdalina, commonly called bitter leaf, belongs to the plant family Compositae. In Nigeria, the Edo calls it oriwo; Hausa, chusar doki (a horse tonic food containing the leaves); fatefate/mayemaye (a food prepared from the leaves); Ibibio, atidot; Igbo, onugbu; Tiv, ityuna; and Yoruba, ewuro.
Bidens pilosa, commonly called black jack, black fellow, or Spanish needles in English, and sornet in French, belongs to the plant family Compositae. In Nigeria, the Yoruba (Ago-Are) calls it eyinata.
Ocimum gratissimum, commonly called scent leaf, belongs to the plant family Lamiaceae. It is known as efinrin ajase in Yoruba, ebavbokho in Bini, aai doya ta gida in Hausa, nchuanwu in Igbo.
Momordica charantia, commonly called bitter melon, bitter gourd, African cucumber or balsam pear; belongs to the plant family Cucurbitaceae. In Nigeria, bitter melon is called ndakdi in Dera; dagdaggi in Fula-Fulfulde; hashinashiap in Goemai; daddagu in Hausa; iliahia in Igala; akban ndene in Igbo (Ibuzo in Delta State); dagdagoo in Kanuri; akara aj, ejinrin nla, ejinrin weeri, ejirin-weewe or igbole aja in Yoruba.
Morinda lucida belongs to the plant family Rubiaceae. It is commonly called Brimstone tree. It is oruwo or erewo in Yoruba, eze-ogu or njisi Igbo.
The researcher concluded: “To the best of our knowledge, ethnobotanical surveys of medicinal plants in Lagos State and especially in the treatment of diabetes are unknown. This present inventory therefore represents the contribution of natural flora of Lagos State to the global approach adjudged to be advantageous and widely acceptable in controlling diabetes. This survey has clearly identified Vernonia amygdalina as the most popular traditionally acclaimed anti-diabetic herbal remedy in addition to Carica papaya, Citrus aurantiifolia, Bidens pilosa, Momordica charantia, Ocimum gratissimum and Aframomum melegueta (alligator pepper), which are also frequently cited.”
The study reported an ethnobotanical survey by means of semi-structured questionnaire of medicinal plants in five districts of Lagos State of Nigeria reputed for the treatment of diabetes.
100 respondents from the predominantly Yoruba tribe mostly males (76 per cent) were knowledgeable in traditional treatment of diabetes. About half of the respondents with 20–30 years experience in treating diabetes used mainly herbs (96 per cent) and have developed effective and easily recognised diagnostic tools. 92 per cent of diabetic patients were usually out-patients aged 21–60 years. Diabetes trado-specialists (80 per cent) rarely referred their patients but usually treated referred cases (96 per cent).
Fifty multi-component herbal recipes covered in the survey were mainly liquid preparations often administered without serious side effects (92 per cent). The principal anti-diabetic plants included Vernonia amygdalina, Bidens pilosa, Carica papaya, Citrus aurantiifolia, Ocimum gratissimum, Momordica charantia and Morinda lucida. Dietary recommendations also accompanied therapy.
One hundred respondents comprising traditional medical practitioners (TMP’s, 64 per cent), herb sellers and herbalists having formal education (95 per cent) and mainly from the Yoruba tribe (95 per cent) were interviewed in the survey. 76 per cent of the respondents were males. Until now, majority of TMP’s were illiterates and consequently could not document their practice. Islam (51 per cent) and Christianity (38 per cent) were the predominant religions of the respondents aged 21–60 years, which suggests traditional herbal practice as the exclusive preserve of the older population (70 per cent).
80 per cent of the respondents claimed to have treated diabetes for up to 11–30 years having acquired the knowledge mainly through training/parental inheritance (45 per cent). In view of the nature of the practice, 96 per cent of the respondents claimed to use mainly herbs while others use non-plants materials like honey, local gin, snail and minerals like alum and potash. Trado-specialists mainly employed frequency of urination (21 per cent) and detection of ants in urine in combination with laboratory tests (36 per cent) as the main diagnostic methods, but without any diagnostic equipment.
The option of treating symptoms of diabetes rather than the disease per se, which allows greater capture of possible plant remedies have been recommended. 77 per cent of diabetic patients were usually aged 21–60 years indicating preponderance of type-2-diabetes.
All the respondents claimed to have successfully treated diabetes on a weekly (39 per cent) or monthly (23 per cent) basis with verbal instructions (97 per cent) usually accompanying use of herbal remedies. However, duration of treatment was usually between 12 and 16 weeks (39 per cent) without known serious side effects in 92 per cent of the cases. Diabetic patients that consulted trado-specialists in the State were mainly out-patients (92 per cent), and in the few instances of admission, the herbal clinic or residence of the practitioners served as the admission port.
Furthermore, 96 per cent of the trado-specialists claimed to have treated referral cases usually from orthodox hospitals (49 per cent, and to a lesser extent from other herbal clinics. However, only few of the practitioners (20 per cent) did refer cases to other centres. This corroborates the fact that majority of the diabetes trado-specialists have successfully treated the disease with herbal remedies. Apart from herbal therapy, traditional practitioners also recommended appropriate diet such as beans and its derivatives (65 per cent), and vegetables and fruits (25 per cent) to their patients.
Fifty herbal remedies which included decoctions (34 per cent), infusions (20 per cent), juice (14 per cent), macerates (eight per cent) and essence (eight per cent) were listed by trado-specialists for treating diabetes in Lagos State. However, only 14 per cent of the remedies were powders, which were usually taken with hot pap (liquid preparation of ground maize). The liquid preparations were usually prepared with water and drunk regularly with either glass cup or teaspoon as appropriate measure.
The herbal recipes, which are mostly multi-component in nature comprised 49 different plant species belonging to 48 genera in 33 families, with Euphorbiaceae (15.2 per cent), Apocynaceae (9.1 per cent), Cucurbitaceae (9.1 per cent), Asteraceae (9.1 per cent) and Fabaceae (9.1 per cent) as the frequently cited families. Apart from Vernonia amygdalina, which was the most frequently cited plant (32.6 per cent), other principal anti-diabetic plants were Bidens pilosa (14.3 per cent), Ocimumgratissimum (12.2 per cent), Carica papaya (12.2 per cent), Citrus aurantiifolia (10.2 per cent), Momordica charantia (8.1 per cent) and Aframomum melegueta- alligator pepper (8.1 per cent).
The study listed 50 herbal recipes for treating diabetes mellitus in Lagos State.
Some of the recipes include: “Vernonia amygdalina leaves should be squeezed till the juice comes out and mixed with salt. Cut into pieces Momordica charantia bark and leaf, then boil in cold water.
Allium cepa (onion) dried leaf, Carica papaya root and Aframomum melegueta leaf are ground and taken with hot pap. Citrus aurantiifolia leaves and powder of cascara are squeezed with water and the juice is taken. Vernonia amygdalina leaves should be squeezed with water and drunk twice daily. Leaves of Saccharum officinarum (sugarcane) and Morinda lucida are squeezed till the juice comes out, then mix with water and take a glassful twice daily. Bidens pilosa fruits and Vernonia amygdalina leaves are soaked in water.
One glass cup is taken three times daily. The dried roots of Bidens pilosa ground into powder, mixed with hot pap and honey. Two teaspoonfuls are taken twice daily.
“Leaves and roots of Vernonia amygdalina, Momordica charantia, Carica papaya, Bidens pilosa and Ocimum gratissimum are soaked in alcohol. One glass cup is taken thrice daily. Vernonia amygdalina leaves and Allium cepa (onion) bulb are soaked in water for five days and one glass cup drunk daily. Dried bulb of Allium cepa, dried root of Carica papaya and dried seeds of Aframomum melegueta are ground into powder and taken with hot pap. Leaves of Allium sativum (garlic), Vernonia amygdalina, Ocimum gratissimum, and potash are boiled with water. One glass cup is taken daily.
“Leaves and roots of Vernonia amygdalina, Momordica charantia, Carica papaya, Bidens pilosa and Ocimum gratissimum are soaked in alcohol. One glass cup is taken thrice daily. Vernonia amygdalina leaves and Allium cepa (onion) bulb are soaked in water for five days and one glass cup drunk daily. Dried bulb of Allium cepa, dried root of Carica papaya and dried seeds of Aframomum melegueta are ground into powder and taken with hot pap. Leaves of Allium sativum (garlic), Vernonia amygdalina, Ocimum gratissimum, and potash are boiled with water. One glass cup is taken daily.
Some of the plants documented in this survey for example Momordica charantia, Aloe vera, Mangifera indica (mango) and Bidens pilosa are already covered in ethnobotanical surveys for anti-diabetic plants by several authors.
No comments:
Post a Comment