Exploring the Potential of Anti-Diabetic Medicinal Plants and Phytocompounds

Diabetes mellitus is a long-term metabolic disease that prolonged hyperglycemia can cause serious side effects that impact several organs and systems, such as peripheral neuropathy, retinopathy, and nephropathy. While insulin and oral hypoglycemic drugs continue to be useful in controlling hyperglycemia, their inability to address disease-related variables including insulin resistance and hypertension makes the quest for new therapeutic strategies necessary. This has led to a worldwide interest in natural products, especially those derived from plants, which have long been used to treat diabetes. Diabetes has a complicated etiology, necessitating multimodal treatment approaches that may include antidiabetic drug combinations. The potential of plant-derived chemicals as lead molecules for the development of innovative antidiabetic medicines is highlighted in this study, which examines the historical and current roles of natural products in the treatment of diabetes.