Journal of Home Economics, Volume 22, Number (3), 2012 1 Journal of Home Economics Volume 22, Number (3), 2012 Journal of Home Economics http://homeEcon.menofia.edu.eg ISSN 1110-2578 The Therapeutic effect of Red cabbage on Diabetic Rats Hebe Ezz El-Din Yossef 1 , Esam El Din Hafez Mansour 2 , Adel Abd El Mohte Ahmed 1 and Amira El Saeed Abd El Gwad 1 . Nutrition and Food Science Department 1 , Food science and Technology 2 , Faculty of Home Economics 1 ,Faculty of Agriculture 2 , Minufiya university 1,2 Abstract: Red cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata f. rubra.) is a member of cruciferous vegetable crops. It contents vitamins A, B, C and anthocyanin pigment which responsible for a variety of bright colors including red, blue, and purple in fruits and vegetables. It described as free radical scavenging and antioxidant agents which play an important role in several diseases include coronary heart disease and diabetes. Twenty four male rats, weighing 150 + 5 g were divided into negative control (non-diabetic) and three diabetic rat groups, 1st positive control (diabetic, untreated), 2nd and 3rd diabetic rats were given dried red cabbage (DRC) by 10% and15% of diet weigh respectively for 30 day. The result revealed that administration of (DRC) caused significant decreased in levels of blood glucose, total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), LDL-c and VLDL-c and increased HDL-c significantly as compared with control positive group. Dried red cabbage also improved the liver and kidney function of diabetic rats. This study concluded that red cabbage improved diabetes mellitus illness. Keywords: red cabbage, diabetes, anthocyanins, antioxidant, blood glucose, lipids. Introduction Diabetes is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by hyperglycemia resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action, or both. The chronic hyperglycemia of diabetes is associated with long- term damage, dysfunction, and failure of different organs, especially the eyes, kidneys, nerves, heart, and blood vessels. (WHO , 2006). Nature has been a source of medicinal treatments for thousands of years, functional foods continue to play an essential role in the