Anti-Diabetic Effects of Nigerian Indigenous Plant Foods/Diets

Plants play important role in the cycle of nature. This is because life on earth basically depends on them. Plants provide man with all his needs as regards food, shelter, clothing, flavours and fragrance as well as medicine. They are naturally occurring substances that produce almost all the foods that animals as well as humans eat. They have unique potential to make their own food through photosynthesis. All foods that people eat naturally come directly or indirectly from plants. Food is fundamental to human survival. It is basic for averting hunger, satisfying one’s palate and maintaining health of every human being. It is used as a status symbol, making people happy, emotionally and socially content, and constitutes a form of cultural expression. It is also used in the performance of various rituals and rites as well as for therapeutic purposes. Culture has a lot of influence on the kind of foods people eat and how they eat them. Traditional foods, was adopted to describe all foods from a particular culture, available from local sources and culturally acceptable as appropriate and desirable foods [1]. The direct and indirect food sources as regards nutrition are simply described as and categorized into two major sources plant and animal foods, respectively.