Herbal and Alternative Therapies for Diabetes

Biography

Biography: A.K.Jain

Abstract

Since the time of Charaka and Susruta several remedies had been tried in the treatment of Diabetes mellitus in Indian system of medicine. Mostly herbal and mineral in their character they were commonly used in combination as powder, paste, pills, and decoction etc. Much of our knowledge in this respect were unfortunately lost, with the decline of the influence of Hindu medicine. As such early treatise on Indian medicine contained references of several such remedies many of which are not of much proven value. Remedies from folklore and hear say evidences also had occupied a position in such a list of useful remedies and a complete evaluation of such indigenous remedies in Diabetes mellitus had never been undertaken

The world is facing a growing Diabetes  epidemic with devastating consequences. WHO predicts an increase by 150% in number of diabetic patients by the year 2025. In India the present number of patients are 62 millions.Therapy for Diabetes has rested on three pillars-diet, exercise and medications. While diet and exercise well defined, pharmacological interventions are more open to customization and experimentation. This experimentation has been necessitate by the field realities of inadequate response, poor tolerance, drug interactions or other patients specific conditions that are encountered and has shed light on better dosing and combinations. We present here a overview in support of Ayurveda and Herbal therapy with oral hypoglycaemic agents or insulin in combinations for the management of Type2 Diabetes mellitus.