Abstract

Diabetes mellitus is a serious global health problem characterised by hyperglycemia due to an absolute or relative deficiency of insulin or insulin resistance. The antidiabetic potential of different natural products has been studied for a long time. Flavonoids are found in vegetables, fruits and fungi and exhibit a wide range of biological activities including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, nephroprotective, hepatoprotective and antidiabetic. Over 5000 flavonoids are distributed in the plant kingdom and have been isolated and identified. Many medicinal plants are a common part of people's daily diet in West Bengal. Many of these medicinal plants belong to the Acanthaceae family, which contains approximately 70 genera and 340 species in India and includes many phytochemical constituents like glycosides, flavonoids, phenolic compounds and terpenoids. This review explores the antidiabetic potential of natural flavonoids obtained from selected edible plants of the Acanthaceae family that are commonly available and consumed in West Bengal. Therefore, based on this information, nutritional recommendations can be made for the prediabetic population who may benefit from prioritising this in their daily diet. However, further studies are required to complete the profiling of flavonoids in more Acanthaceae family plants with antidiabetic potential. Different medicinal plants of the Fabaceae, Acanthaceae and Amaranthaceae families comprise several flavonoids that are also responsible for antidiabetic activity.