Natural Product Research Vol. 25, No. 20, December 2011, 1890–1892 LETTER TO THE EDITOR The choice of thujone as drug for diabetes Reply to: Al-Haj Baddar et al. (2011) Dirk W. Lachenmeier a * and Stephan G. Walch b a Chemisches und Veterina ¨runtersuchungsamt (CVUA) Karlsruhe, Weissenburger Strasse 3, D-76187 Karlsruhe, Germany; b Department for Public Health and Health Technology Assessment, University of Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology (UMIT), Eduard Wallno ¨fer- Zentrum 1, A-6060 Hall in Tyrol, Austria (Received 30 July 2011; final version received 2 September 2011) The use of thujone, a monoterpene ketone often present in sage (Salvia officinalis L.) or wormwood (Artemisia absinthium L.), for the treatment of diabetes mellitus was recently suggested in a study published in this journal. Evidence was based on the findings obtained in a diabetic rat model. After oral treatment with thujone (5 mg/kg bodyweight (bw)/day for 28 days), the choles- terol and triglyceride levels were significantly adjusted to normal levels when compared to diabetic, untreated rats. While these results sound promising and worthy of further investigation, the well-defined profile of the adverse properties of thujone demands a cautious interpretation of these results. The therapeutic margin of thujone appears to be small, as a dose-related incidence of seizures was noted in 2-year National Toxicology Program studies in rats and mice. The dose level in the diabetic rat study is also considerably higher than a daily intake that is acceptable for humans (0.1 mg/kg bw/day). Keywords: thujone; neurotoxicity syndromes; seizures; diabetes mellitus; choles- terol; triglycerides To the editor: Al-Haj Baddar, Aburjai, Taha, and Disi (2011) report interesting results from the first experimental study on the effect of thujone on diabetic rats. Thujone is a monoterpene ketone that is present in the etherical oil fraction of several medicinal plants including most prominently sage (Salvia officinalis L.) and wormwood (Artemisia absinthium L.). This occurrence in common plants hightens the importance of the results, as the use of herbal medicinal products would allow for the indirect application of thujone (e.g. by consuming sage tea). It is interesting that the application of thujone appears to have an effect similar to metformin (Al-Haj Baddar et al., 2011). A metformin-like effect was previously detected for sage tea – in particular, for the essential oil fraction of sage (Lima, Azevedo, Araujo, Fernandes-Ferreira, & Pereira-Wilson, 2006). Several studies have also reported the hypoglycaemic effects of sage (Alarcon-Aguilar, Roman-Ramos, Flores-Saenz, & Aguirre- Garcia, 2002; M. Eidi, A. Eidi, & Zamanizadeh, 2005). *Corresponding author. Email: Lachenmeier@web.de ISSN 1478–6419 print/ISSN 1478–6427 online ß 2011 Taylor & Francis http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14786419.2011.622279 http://www.tandfonline.com