Diabetes and Vernonia amygdalina Delile (Asteraceae)

Vernonia amygdalina, is a perennial tropical shrub from Asteraceae with a height ranging from 1 to 10 m tall. In Tropical African Countries, V. amygdalina, known as bitter leaf because of the bitter taste of the leaf, is propagated for consumption as a vegetable due to its medicinal properties. In this paper, the use of the plant V. amygdalina for the treatment of diabetes mellitus is reviewed by searching scientific databases such as Frontiers, HealthSTAR, MDPI, MEDLINE, Pubmed, Taylor and Francis, Science Direct, Scopus, Springer, Wiley, American Diabetes Association from 2000 to January 2021. Herbal medicine is a form of healthcare that has been used in diabetes treatment. One such herbal plant is V. amygdalina, a multipurpose plant with many uses, health benefits, and bioactivities. V. amygdalina is identified as the most medically beneficial plant in the genus Vernonia. V. amygdalina possesses several activities, including the anti-diabetic effect. This review discusses classifications and treatments (conventional and herbal) of diabetes mellitus, the phytochemical profile of V. amygdalina and its uses in the treatment of diabetes mellitus, and their mechanisms of action of the plant. The published literature used for the present work supports anti-diabetic properties of V. amygdalina.