Description

The prevalence of diabetes has increased manifold and now become a public health problem from being mild disorder. There is a need to discover more effective and safer anti-diabetic agents by utilizing the rich heritage of medicinal plants. Nutraceuticals are naturally derived bioactive compounds that have health promoting, disease preventing or medicinal properties. Hence, foods can be developed to be specific to individual human genotypes, can benefit health and can enhance normal physiological processes. Tannin are polyphenols that are obtained from various parts of different plants belonging to multiple species and considered as potential drugs for the treatment of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. Tannin have a wide range of biological and pharmacological activities including antioxidative, cardio-protective, antitumor, antibacterial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory and immune-modulatory. These specific phytochemicals provide a promising area of research for future human studies and potential nutraceutical for disease prevention and treatment.