Anti diabetic activity of Shoe flowers

Hibiscus rosasinensis Linn. is an evergreen woody, glabrous, showy shrub, distributed throughout India and called as Shoe flower plant or Chinese hibiscus. It is reputed for various properties in traditional medicine. To validate and support the claims by traditional medicine practitioners about the usefulness of its flowers for the treatment of diabetes the researchers at India investigated the antidiabetic activity of these flowers in alloxan induced diabetic rats. The ethanol extract of flowers at doses of 250mg/kg and 500mg/kg was found to significantly reduce the blood glucose level in both acute (1, 3, 5 h) and sub acute (1, 3, 5, 7 days) treatments [Venkatesh S, Thilagavathi J and Shyam Sundar D, Anti-diabetic activity of flowers of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, Fitoterapia, 2008, 79 (2), 79-81]. Flowers of Butea monosperma (Lam.) Kuntz, known as Flame of forest is commonly available in Indian market. Traditionally most of the plant parts are used therapeutically in treatment of various diseases. The researchers at Prin. K. M. Kundnani College of Pharmacy, Colaba, Mumbai, India evaluated the effect of methanolic extract of its flowers (MEBM) for anti-inflammatory activity against carrageenin induced paw edema and cotton pellet granuloma in albino rats. In carrageenin induced paw edema, MEBM at oral doses of 600 and 800mg/kg, dose-dependently inhibited the paw edema. In cotton pellet induced granuloma, MEBM at the same doses was found to significantly inhibit granuloma tissue formation, including significant reduction in levels of serum lysosomal enzymes (SGOT, SGPT and ALP) and lipid peroxides as compared to control [Shahavi VM and Desai SK, Anti-inflammatory activity of Butea monosperma flowers, Fitoterapia, 2008, 79 (2), 82-85]. Antioxidant activity and phenolic content of various Date palm fruits from Iran