Written By: Upneet Pansare | Updated : August 17, 2018 11:12 AM IST
Check your blood sugar levels daily
Former PM and one of India's political stalwarts, Atal Bihari Vajpayee breathed his last on August 16 a few days after he was admitted to AIIMS with a kidney tract infection, urinary tract infection, low urine output and chest congestion. During his last few days, he was put on life support. Since the past few years, the popular orator and poet had withdrawn from social life and remained at home due to a number of health ailments including diabetes, stroke and dementia. Reports suggest that Vajpayee who had been a diabetic for several years had only one functional kidney.
According to WHO, diabetes is a major cause of conditions like blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, stroke and lower limb amputation. Vajpayee was just one of many diabetics in India. Stats suggest that diabetes and deaths related to diabetes are rapidly increasing in India. There is an estimated 8.7% diabetic population in the age group of 20 and 70 years alone. It is clear that India has to buckle up and deal with this menace ASAP. Thankfully, India is blessed with a number of natural herbs with potent properties to treat and control diabetes. All we need to do is bring about lifestyle changes, eat a balanced diet and use these medicinal plants to beat diabetes. These plants, unlike a lot of anti-diabetic medicines, are not known to have side effects.
Jamun: Jamun kernel has been used as a household remedy for diabetes in India as it is known to increase insulin naturally. It lowers blood glucose level (mild diabetes 73.51% reduction, moderate and severe diabetes 55.62% and 17.72% respectively) [21]. Jamun pulp extract also exhibits hypoglycemic activity.
Bittergourd or Karela: Karela has antidiabetic and antihyperglycemic properties. Scientific studies have proven that its fruit pulp, seed, leaves and the whole plant have hypoglycemic effects. It exhibits insulin-like action to reduce blood sugar levels in the body, particularly after a meal.
Garlic: This contains allicin, a compound that gives it a pungent odour, that has significant hypoglycemic activity. Garlic helps increase insulin release from pancreatic beta cells and decreases fasting blood glucose.
Mango leaves: This is popularly used in Nigerian folk medicine. It exhibits antidiabetic activity and hypoglycemic activity due to the intestinal reduction of the absorption of glucose.
Neem: Extract of neem leaves and neem seed oil improve insulin sensitivity by regulating sugar levels. This is because of the presence of flavonoids, triterpenoid, anti-viral compounds and glycosides in them.
With inputs from J Clin Biochem Nutr. 2007 May; 40(3): 163 173, Sheela C.G., Augusti K.T. Antidiabetic effects of S-allyl cysteine sulphoxide isolated from garlic Allium sativum Linn. Indian J. Exp. Biol. 1992;30:523 526
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