Chemical Analysis on Two Traditional Decoctions for Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a multifactorial disease involves major changes in both physical and psychosocial dimension of each patient. DM is two types; type 1 DM and type 2 DM. Type 2 DM is more common in the world. In the present study, an attempt was taken to evaluate (a) phytochemicals and (b) antioxidant potential of two traditional decoctions which are given to DM patients in Sri Lanka. Phytochemical screening was conducted using standard procedures and Thin Layer Chromatography fingerprint was developed using dichloromethane: ethyl acetate in a ratio of 4:1 (v/v) as the mobile phase. Results revealed that phytochemicals such as phenols, flavonoids, tannins, alkaloids, saponins, steroids and terpenoids are present in two traditional decoctions. The total polyphenolic and flavonoid contents in traditional decoction 2 (total phenols: 236.0 ± 1.6 mg gallic acid equivalents/g of extract; total flavonoids: 53.8 ± 0.8 mg quercetin/g of extract respectively) was higher than that of traditional decoction 1(total phenols: 176.5 ± 2.1 mg gallic acid equivalents/g of extract; total flavonoids: 41.2 ± 1.2 mg quercetin/g of extract respectively). In addition, IC50 value is lesser (6.40 ± 0.60 μ g/ml) in traditional decoction 2 for DPPH assay, compared to that of traditional decoction 1(10.52 ± 0.35 μ g/ml). In conclusion, In vitro studies suggest that traditional decoction 2 is better than that of traditional decoction 1 in terms of antioxidant activity. Further, this can be confirmed by conducting a clinical trial in between two decoctions.