Allahabad :
If you are a diabetic and costly medicines are burning a hole in your pocket, don’t worry as leaves of “Trichosanthes dioica” or parwal can rescue you. Researches at the department of chemistry, Allahabad University, have shown that the extract prepared by the leaves of parwal brings down the blood glucose level (BGL) by over 32%.
The findings, titled ‘Glycemic properties of trichosanthes dioica leaves’ have been published in an international journal named as Pharmaceutical Biology, published in England. The study has been done by a team of chemists led by Geeta Watal and her team comprising Prashant Kumar Rai, Dolly Jaiswal, Rakesh Kumar Singh and Rajesh Kumar Gupta.
Rai said that variable doses of 250, 500 and 750 mg kg, per body weight of the extract, were administered on normal and sub and mild-diabetic rats, which brought down the blood glucose level (BGL) by 32.9%. “The aim of the study was to screen the glycemic attributes of an aqueous extract of leaves of parwal. This evidence indicates that extract of “Trichosanthes dioica” leaves has good hypoglycemic potential along with a high anti-diabetic profile,” he added.
Even as India has the dubious distinction of being termed the ‘diabetes capital of the world’, a number of Indian medicinal plants have been used for thousands of years in the traditional system of medicine for treating various diseases, Rai added.
Detailing on research, Rai said that 7 kgs of fresh leaves of trichosanthes dioica were collected and shade-dried. The dried leaves were crushed and extracted. The extract was administered in rats which showed a regular fall of 32.9%.
With its origin in the Indian subcontinent, parwal is a nutritive cucurbit vegetable. It is rich in protein and vitamin A. Direct intake of seeds of the plant was also found to be effective in the serum lipid profile of normal and mild-diabetic human subjects and rabbits. Seeds of the plant also possess anti-fungal and anti-bacterial qualities. The leaves and shoots are being used in Ayurvedic system of medicine since ancient times.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Allahabad / by Rajeev Mani, TNN / March 07th, 2015