Effect of Molokhia Extract on Experimentally Induced Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes mellitus is the most common endocrine disorder. As this disease progresses tissue or vascular damage ensues leading to severe diabetic complications. Despite the presence of known antidiabetic medicine in the pharmaceutical market, remedies from medicinal plants are used with success to treat this disease. Plant drugs are frequently considered to be less toxic and more free from side effects than synthetic one. Corchorus olitorius L., a plant from the Tiliaceae family, is an annual herb and its leaves and roots are eaten as herbal medicine and as a vegetable by local people in India, Egypt, and the Philippines. Its leaves are used in soups under the Arabic name "Molukhyia". Therefore the present study was carried out to explore the effect of Molokhia soup (prepared from the leaves of Corchorus olitorius L.) on fasting blood sugar, lipid profile and hepatic oxidative status in STZ-induced diabetes model in male albino rats. Molokhia soup showed an encouraging antihyperglycemic, antihypertriglyceridemic as well as antioxidant properties and could be considered as a valuable candidate in the reversal of the complications of diabetes.