Does Abelmoschus esculentus act as antidiabetic? A systematic review with updated evidence.

Abstract

Introduction: It is well known that diabetes mellitus is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality arising from multiple etiologies and still is an incurable one. Besides modern medicines and technologies, science is looking at some nature made remedies to avoid toxic side effects and to invent a hassle-free treatment for it. While plant resources have turned into a chief target to search new drugs, Abelmoschus esculentus is claimed to be an alternative approach to current medicines of diabetes but yet need to explore more.

Evidence acquisition: Review authors searched PubMed, Medline, Embase, CINAHL, Scopus database (last search July 30, 2020), with the MeSH terms and keywords of "Abelmoschus esculentus," "lady's finger," and "diabetes mellitus" to make a brief explanation regarding effects of Abelmoschus esculentus on diabetes, along with summary of molecular evidence, nutritive and phytochemical components, illustrative evidence of human trial and mice demonstration. Selected articles are also screened in the reference list to find other relevant content.

Evidence synthesis: Finally, 21 studies were found suitable for consideration in writing this comprehensive evidence-based rapid review. Meta-analysis was not done because of clinical and methodological heterogeneity among the included studies. Therefore, the narrative summary approach was used for data synthesis.

Conclusions: This review can highlight the current evidence of the particular topic, useful for a reader to gain knowledge, application in clinical practice in a community setting, or planning for new human experiment in depth.