Pharmacologyonline 1: 64-77 (2009) Newsletter Kosta and Tiwari 64 A FUSION OF ANCIENT MEDICINAL PLANTS WITH MODERN CONVENTIONAL THERAPIES ON ITS MULTIFACETED ANTDIABETIC PROPERTIES * Susmit Kosta, and Archana Tiwari School of Biotechnology, Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya (University of Technology of Madhya Pradesh), Bhopal, 462036, India. * E-mail: skosta@aol.in Summary Ayurveda, the ancient healing system from India, has steadily increased in popularity in the western world in recent years. This 5,000 years old system of medicine recommends a combination of lifestyle management (which includes diet, exercise and meditation), and treatment with specific herbs and minerals to cure various diseases. The botanicals in the Ayurvedic materia medica have been proven to be safe and effective, through several hundred to several thousand years of use. Ayurvedic physicians have treated diabetes for thousands of years using a combination of regulated lifestyle and herbal formulations. This review summarizing the description of diabetes mellitus by two ancient Indian physicians are excerpted here from a fairly recent publication on Ayurveda: “About the one transmitted genetically, he (Sushruta) says “a person would be diabetic if his father and grandfather are diabetic". In fact, he mentions that such type of person is clinically diabetic. The genetically transmitted entity of insulin dependent diabetes mellitus is well known today. What is striking is his description of an insulin dependent diabetic whom he describes as a thin, restless individual. The characteristics of diabetes of dietary origin are described to be exactly opposite, which also fit in with the features of Type II mentioned in modern medicine. Charaka too agrees with the genetic origin of diabetes and adds that this type is more difficult to cure. The ancient physicians have written factors predisposing to diabetes mellitus, and these stand confirmed even today. The factors described are lack of exercise, sedentary habits, sleeping during day time and eating excessively, particularly sweet and fatty substances. These individuals lack enthusiasm, are overweight, obese and have excessive appetite.” These physicians also prescribed specific herbal formulations for the treatment of diabetes. In recent times, the safety and efficacy of these herbs have been validated by laboratory experiments and clinical trials Keywords: Non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, Reactive oxygen specie, Antioxidant, Lipid peroxidation