<p>This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.</p> <p>Diabetes mellitus has been treated orally with herbal remedies
based on folk medicine since ancient times. <italic>Embelia ribes burm</italic>
(Myrsinaceae), known commonly as vidanga, was used in Ayurveda
for its anthelmintic activity. Ayurveda describes vidanga as pungent,
causes increase in digestive fire, and cures flatulence and colic.
A single study reported the antihyperglycemic activity of decoction
of <italic>E. ribes</italic> in glucose-induced hyperglycemic albino rabbits.
In the present study, the lipid-lowering and antioxidant potential
of ethanolic extract of <italic>E. ribes burm</italic> was investigated in streptozotocin
(40 mg/kg, IV, single injection)-induced diabetes in rats.
Twenty days of orally feeding the extract (200 mg/kg) to diabetic
rats resulted in significant (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.01) decrease in blood glucose,
serum total cholesterol, and triglycerides, and increase in HDLcholesterol
levels when compared to pathogenic diabetic rats. Further,
the extract also lowered the liver and pancreas thiobarbituric
acid–reactive substances (TBARSs) values (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.01) when compared
to TBARS values of liver and pancreas of pathogenic diabetic
rats. The results of test drug were comparable to gliclazide
(25 mg/kg, orally), a standard antihyperglycemic agent. This is the
first pilot study to provide biochemical evidence of potential of <italic>E.
ribes</italic> in diabetic dyslipidemia.</p>
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Int J Exp Diabetes Res. 2002; 3(3):159-162