Abstract
Diabetes mellitus is one of the major health problems in Africa. The conventional oral synthetic
antidiabetic drugs available to manage the disease are costly and not readily affordable to the
majority of the affected population. Interestingly, the continent is endowed with a tremendous
number of medicinal plants that have been explored for their folkloric treatment of diabetes
mellitus. Scientific investigations have validated the antidiabetic potentials of a number of
these medicinal plants but there is no repository with information on these scientifically
investigated plants as a guide for future research. In this review article, all of the in
vivo antidiabetic studies conducted between January 2000 and July 2013 on African plants
are systematically compiled with a closer look at some relevant plants from the continentʼs
subregions. Plants of the Asteraceae and Lamiaceae families are the most investigated, and West
Africa has the highest number of investigated plants. Although promising results were reported
in many cases, unfortunately, only a few studies reported the partial characterization of
bioactive principles and/or mechanisms of action. It is hoped that government agencies,
pharmaceutical industries, and the scientific community will have a look at some of these plants
for future research and, if possible, subsequent commercialization.
Key words
Africa - antidiabetic effects - diabetes mellitus - medicinal plants - North Africa - East Africa - West Africa - Central Africa - Southern Africa
