Scientific validation of tribal claims on the plants used in diabetes by Santhal community of Mayurbhanj, Odisha, India Aradhana Sinu1, Manjula Bangalore Lakshminarayana2,*, Kumar Sanjeet1 1Biodiversity and Conservation Laboratory, Ambika Prasad Research Foundation, Odisha, India 2Department of Botany, Sri Jagadguru Renukacharya College of Science, Arts and Commerce, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India *Corresponding author e-mail: manjulasrivats@gmail.com
Online Published on 30 November, 2022. Abstract Diabetes has become a family disorder throughout the world and almost in every house, at least one person is diabetic. Globally medicinal plants are playing a vital role in the management of diabetes and are also being used by the ethnic communities of the world. The Santhal community of Mayurbhanj, Odisha state, India, belonging to the Munda ethnic group has good indigenous traditional knowledge about the medicinal uses of plants. A field survey was conducted in the District of Mayurbhanj, Odisha, to collect the information about the plants used by Santhal in diabetes problems. Out of 13 plants commonly used for antidiabetes purpose, 5 plants were selected (Andrographis paniculata, Centella asiatica, Curcuma aromatica, Indigofera cassioides and Woodfordia fruticosa) from the enumerated plants used by the Santhal in diabetes as these plants were more, easily available in the area, used by majority of the tribals and use values were quite high. Phytochemical analysis of selected plants showed presence of diverse bioactive compounds responsible for reducing the blood sugar level in diabetes. Aqueous extract of 500 mg/ml of A. paniculata and C. asiatica showed significant inhibitory activity, C. aromatica and I. cassioides showed moderate inhibitory activity whereas W. fruticosa showed minimum inhibitory activity against alpha-glucosidase enzyme activity. The results of alpha-glucosidase enzyme activity validated the tribal claims on these plants in diabetes use and the absence of lethal effects against Artemia salina when Brine shrimp lethality test conducted indicated the non-toxicity of these plant extracts. Top Keywords Santhal, Traditional therapeutic value, Medicinal plants, Secondary metabolites. Top |