Publication:

Hypoglycemic activity of Pterocarpus marsupium in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus

Background Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a chronic disorder, and it requires drug treatment over a long period of time. Apart from synthetic drugs available in the market for the management of diabetes, there is voluminous literature pouring on indigenous medicine with claim for the utility in diabetes mellitus. Pterocarpus marsupium is one of the traditional medicinal plants with hypoglycemic activity, used by a lot of patients on a large scale. The objectives of the study were to compare the blood glucose lowering effect of P. marsupium as add-on therapy with oral hypoglycemic drugs in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus and to determine adverse events (if any).

Methods The study was carried out at tertiary care hospital of Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. Total of 56 old uncontrolled hyperglycemic (Type 2 diabetes mellitus) patients already taking oral hypoglycemic drugs were enrolled on the basis of inclusion and exclusion criteria. The duration of treatment with P. marsupium as add-on therapy with glimepiride+metformin or glimepiride+metformin+pioglitazone was 12 weeks with 4 weekly clinical attendances for review and collection of the drug. It was prospective, open, non-randomized, interventional, efficacy, and safety type of study, the dosage of P. marsupium wood powder being 2-4 g/day.

Results At the end of treatment (12 weeks) with P. marsupium as add-on therapy, mean fasting blood glucose, postprandial blood glucose, and glycosylated hemoglobin were compared with baseline using student’s paired t-test. Calculated p value for all parameter is <0.05, i.e., it is statistically significant.

Conclusions P. marsupium is highly effective blood glucose lowering Indian traditional plant agent, its glycemic effect being comparable as add-on therapy in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus and free from any adverse event.