Diabetes mellitus quality care management: The promise of herbal supplementation

Overcoming diabetes is a major health challenge of the 21st century. WHO predicts that by 2030 it will be the seventh leading cause of death in the world and calls for global action to stop its rise and improve care. Actually, Herbal and nutritional supplementation is required in the management of diabetic patients, a finding shared unanimously by scientists. Recently diabetologists have come to the evidence that a therapeutic supplement consisting of nutrients and herbal is necessary to optimize the treatment of diabetes. The treatment of Type 2 diabetes mellitus, which is very often associated with overweight, is based on hygiene and dietetic measures and, where appropriate, on taking oral antidiabetics .This review describes the therapeutic arsenal of conventional oral antidiabetic drugs and emphasizes on innovative therapeutic option introducing herbal medicine and nutrition to the management of diabetic patients. Recent studies showed interesting potential in the reduction of blood sugar for many herbal for example Cinnamon, also berberine has been linked to the reduction of blood glucose levels, insulin levels and showed to be as effective as metformin, the most commonly prescribed drug for diabetics, at controlling blood sugar levels in diabetics. Moreover, a medicinal plant or herbal mixture can provide multi-targeted therapeutic action due to its complex chemical composition with hundreds of active ingredients such as oligosaccharides, alkaloids, polyphenols, flavonoids, tannins and at the same time ensure safety for the patients. We conclude by the fact that herbal and nutritional supplementation can bring major and promising progress in order to improve the patient care, by slowing the progression of type 2 diabetes and limiting its complications.