Medicinal use of plant extracts is not complementary therapy

A few days ago a correspondent sent me a press release from Diabetes UK outlining research on three Asian plants with potential use in treating type 2 diabetes. The research findings were to be presented this week (March 2009) at the charity’s annual professional conference.

According to the press release, researchers investigating the herb Gymnema sylvestre have concluded that extracts have a stimulant effect on insulin-producing cells in the human pancreas.

Another group of researchers has examined Momordica cymbalaria, a cucumber-like plant, and found that a root extract improves glucose tolerance in rats with diabetes.

Other researchers have studied the Himalayan herb Swertia chirayita and suggest that compounds extracted from its bark (can a herb have bark?) may stimulate insulin production.

What particularly caught my attention was a reference to these plant products as complementary therapy. They are not. Drug substances extracted from plants have always been part of mainstream pharmacy.

Readers of The Pharmaceutical Journal do not need to be reminded that most drugs used in orthodox medicine are ultimately derived from plant sources, even if they are now synthesised by the pharmaceutical industry.

To my mind, the expression “complementary therapy” should be reserved for respected alternative therapies such as acupuncture, herbal medicine and traditional Chinese medicine, along with the many more dubious treatments such as aromatherapy, crystal healing, energy field therapy, flower remedies, homoeopathy, moxibustion, reflexology and thermo-auricular therapy.

And in referring to the three plants as “surprising” research subjects, the press release fails to acknowledge that all three have a long history of antidiabetic use in India’s traditional systems of medicine — indeed, G sylvestre has been exploited in diabetes for some 2,000 years and its Hindi name, gurmar,  means “sugar-destroyer”.

Nevertheless, it is encouraging to hear about research into natural antidiabetic products sponsored by the UK’s leading diabetes charity, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.