Advances in Chinese herbal medicine for the treatment of diabetes

Diabetes is caused by excessive accumulation of glucose in human blood. The disease is hereditary, but can also be affected by the environment. At present, there are many limitations in the development of single-target drug therapy for the treatment of diabetes. Chinese herbal medicine has long been used for diabetes treatment as well as many other diseases in East Asia. Clinical practice has demonstrated the efficacy and multi-target functionality of Chinese herbal medicine in anti-diabetes. This review summarized the use of Chinese herbal medicine, including Astragalus membranaceus (Fisch.) Bge, Helianthus tuberosus L., Lycium barbarum L., Angelica sinensis (Oliv.) Diels., Rehmannia glutinosa Libosch, stigma maydis, Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge, radix puerariae, Momordica Charantia L., Paeoniae lactiflora Pall, Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bunge and mulberry leaves, for the treatment of diabetes and discussed relevant mechanisms and physiological pathways of the treatment. This work expects to raise people’s attention to the potential of Chinese herbal medicine as potent drugs for diabetes treatment, and provides valuable information and ideas for researchers.