1 D-pinitol (3-O-methyl-chiroinositol), an active principle of the traditional antidiabetic plant Bougainvillea spectabilis, is claimed to exert insulin-like eects. This study investigates the eect of D-pinitol on glucose homeostasis in animal models of diabetes, and on glucose transport by cultured muscle cells. 2 Plasma glucose concentrations were measured in normal, obese-diabetic (ob/ob) ...