Hypoglycemic Effect of Herbs on Type 2 Diabetic Patients: An Intervention Study Sukhjindar Singh Ghotra 1 , Nancy Sahni 2 , Vikas Kumar 3 , Sanjay Kumar Bhadada 4 , Amarjeet Singh 5 and Sunita Malhotra 6 1, 2 Department of Dietetics, PGIMER, Chandigarh India 3 Department of Food Tech and Nut, LPU, Punjab, India 4 Department of Endocrinology, PGIMER, Chandigarh, India 5 Department of Community Medicine, PGIMER, Chandigarh, India 6 Department of Dietetics, PGIMER, Chandigarh, India KEYWORDS BMI. Diabetes Mellitus. Fasting Blood Glucose. HbA1c. Postprandial Blood Glucose ABSTRACT The present study was conducted to analyse the effect of five herbs (Momordica charantia, Azadirachta indica, Gymnema sylvestre, Citrullus colocynthis and Berberis aristata) on blood glucose levels in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus patients. The method used for the study was a subjective evaluation. Subjects selected were taking an oral hypoglycemic drug and were willing to participate in the intervention study. Information regarding the name, age, religion, lifestyle pattern, was collected with the help of an interview schedule. Anthropometric parameters were collected prior to intervention to assess the nutritional status. Blood glucose levels were assessed before and after intervention period. Every day one gram of herbal powder was used as the intervention by the subjects in two the divided doses a period of three months. Total 56 subjects were enrolled, mean age 51±7.5 years. Age range was 35- 65 years, out of which 39.3 percent (22) were male and 60.7 percent (34) were female. Fasting blood glucose level before and after the intervention was 161±47mg/dl and 120±29mg/dl respectively (p-value<0.001). Postprandial blood glucose level before and after the intervention was 231±81mg/dl and 162±32mg/dl respectively (p- value<0.001). Hb1Ac level of before and after the intervention was 9.2±2.1 percent and 7.5±1.2 percent respectively (p-value<0.001). Herbs had positive and encouraging effects over blood glucose levels. No adverse effect was observed on the health status of the subjects. These herbs were effective in lowering the fasting as well as postprandial blood glucose and HbA1c levels. These herbs can be used as an adjunct for treatment of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus patients. Address for correspondence: Sukhjindar Singh Ghotra 110-B, Sainik Vihar Colony, Jandli, Ambala, Haryana, India Telephone: 0171-2801706 Mobile: 09467677012 E-mail: sukhji05@gmail.com INTRODUCTION Diabetes Mellitus is a chronic ailment which occurs due to malfunction of the pancreas. Usu- ally it occurs when body does not use insulin present in the body properly or generate less in- sulin. It is featured by metabolic malfunction pri- marily carbohydrates metabolism, protein and fat in the body. Body cells do not utilize glucose, resulting in an increased level of glucose in the blood (Hyperglycemia) (Rizvi and Mishra 2013). There are mainly two types of diabetes Type 1 and Type 2. Diabetes mellitus is a major health problem in India as well as in other developing countries. In developing countries like India, di- abetes occurs in younger age affecting the most productive years of their life. The higher preva- lence of diabetes is related to obesity, family history of diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance and reduced physical inactivity. There is an international search for alterna- tive oral hypoglycemic which are effective but have less toxicity, especially for Type 2 diabetes mellitus cases. As in the cases from all over the world, in this country also the insulin depen- dent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) or Type 1 consti- tute only two percent of the total diabetic popu- lation leaving approximately ninety-eight per- cent cases of Type 2 diabetes mellitus. There are 387 million people living with dia- betes worldwide so its prevalence is about 8.3 percent, among them 46.3 percent people are undiagnosed. One in two people with diabetes does not know that they have it. There are 4.9 million deaths per year with this disease and fifty percent of deaths are under 60 years of age. At every 7 th second one person dies from diabe- tes. By 2035, almost 600 million of us may be living with diabetes. Seventy-seven percent of Ethno Med, 12(4): 270-275 (2018) DOI: 10.31901/24566772.2018/12.04.572 © Kamla-Raj 2018