Diabetic Complications: A Natural Product Perspective

Diabetes is a chronic disease that affects over 400 million people globally. With 5.5% increase in diabetes related deaths in 2010, as compared to the 2007 and World Health Organisation's projection of diabetes as the 7 th leading cause of death by 2030, has dazed the current drug discovery fraternity. The major focus of drug discovery has been towards the control of hyperglycemia while the severe complications arising due to it have been overlooked. Plant based natural products (pure phytochemicals or in the form of crude extracts) have been the mainstay of drug discovery program for treatment of numerous human diseases. In addition, indigenous systems of medicines like Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) possess a rich plethora of knowledge about clinically used medicinal plants for controlling the diabetic complications. With India becoming the capital of diabetes and its associated complications, the present natural products perspective is more evident and highlights the current natural products based research that has been done for the last five years in tackling diabetic complications.