The use of plants in the traditional treatment of diabetes patients: survey in southern Morocco

This study was conducted in public healthcare establishments in Guelmim city in south of Morocco to report medicinal plants used in folk medicine to treat diabetes. Three hundred sixty-two informants were interviewed through semi structured interviews. The inventory includes scientific, popular and common names of the plants, used parts and method of preparation. The survey shows that 24.6% of the patients use these plants. Twenty-seven medicinal plants belonging to seventeen families were inventoried and three species were cited for the first time in the treatment of diabetes in Morocco. Olea europea L., Artemisia herba-alba Asso and Trigonella foenum-graecum L. are the most plant species used to treat diabetes, and the two most cited families are Lamiaceae (5 species) and Apiaceae (4 species). Leaves represented the most utilized part of plants and decoction was the most cited mode of preparation of drugs. The present study highlights the wide variety of herbal remedies used to treat diabetes and the frequency of this use in diabetic patients.