Mining red maple (Acer rubrum) trees for novel therapeutics to manage diabetes

Seeram, N.P.; Xu, J.; Li, L.; Slitt, A. Mining red maple (Acer rubrum) trees for novel therapeutics to manage diabetes. Medicine and Health Rhode Island, 2012, 95, 283-284.


Abstract

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) accounts for about 90% of all diagnosed cases of diabetes in adults with over 200 million people suffering from this disease worldwide. In the United States alone, in 2007, 10% of American adults had diabetes and the cost to manage diabetes was $174 billion and this figure is expected to skyrocket (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010). Plants and their derived products have been used for centuries by various cultures as traditional medicines for the management of diabetes. Plants contain secondary metabolites (known as phytochemicals; ‘phyto’ means plant), which are implicated in the prevention and treatment of several chronic human diseases, including diabetes. Among these natural products, polyphenols and phenolic glycosides, have attracted significant interests for their anti-diabetic properties.