Moroccan medicinal plants with potential antidiabetic activity

Abstract

Background: Type II diabetes is a major public health concern worldwide, especially in resource-limited countries like Morocco. In these areas, it is common for patients to use aromatic and medicinal plants either as alternative treatments or to complement standard medical therapies. This research aims to catalog the medicinal flora traditionally employed in Morocco for diabetes management, compiling relevant therapeutic data to support future research in phytochemistry and pharmacology.

Methods: The goal is to discover and file medicinal flora historically used in the management of diabetes within the Moroccan population using different scientific sources inlcusive of Elsevier, Medline, and Pubmed in ethnobotanical and bibliographic research during 2020.

Results: The analysis identified a total of 212 different plant species from 62 plant families, with the highest representation being Asteraceae (15.09%), Lamiaceae (11.32%), Fabaceae (6.6%), Apiaceae (6.13%), and Poaceae (4.72%). Among the various plant parts utilized, leaves were the most commonly used (30.45%), followed by seeds (16.26%). The primary methods of preparation included decoction (53.96%) and infusion (25.18%). In addition to smaller quantities of alkaloids, tannins, coumarins, fatty acids, and saponins, the phytochemical examination revealed many bioactive secondary metabolites that might help control diabetes, especially terpenoids (25. 80%), flavonoids (25. 60%), and phenolic acids (12. 20%).

Conclusion: The floristic diversity of Morocco, shaped by its unique physiographic and bioclimatic conditions, underpins a rich repository of medicinal herbs with potential antidiabetic effects. This study establishes a crucial database for further scientific exploration of plant-based antidiabetic compounds in phytochemistry, biology, and pharmacology.

Keywords: Phytotherapy, Secondary Metabolites, Ethnopharmacology, Diabetes Management, Natural Remedies.