Alternative Therapies for Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is a chronic metabolic disease that has a significant impact on the health, quality of life, and life expectancy of patients, as well as on the health care system. Exercise, diet, and weight control continue to be essential and effective means of improving glucose homeostasis. However, lifestyle management measures may be insufficient or patient compliance difficult, rendering conventional drug therapies (i.e., oral glucose-lowering agents and insulin injection) necessary in many patients. In addition to adverse effects, drug treatments are not always satisfactory in maintaining euglycemia and avoiding late stage diabetic complications. As an alternative approach, medicinal herbs with anti hyperglycemic activities are increasingly sought by diabetic patients and health care professionals. Commonly used herbs and other alternative therapies, less likely to have the side effects of conventional approaches for type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes mellitus is a serious chronic metabolic disorder that has a significant impact on the health, quality of life, and life expectancy of patients, as well as on the health care system. In the United States, diabetes is the sixth leading cause of death. 1 Diabetes is divided into two major categories: type 1 diabetes (formerly known as insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus or IDDM) and type 2 diabetes (formerly known as non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus or NIDDM). The overall prevalence of diabetes is approximately six percent of the population, of which 90 percent is type 2. Treatment and care of diabetes represents a substantial portion of the national health care expenditure, over $105 billion annually. This represents a substantial portion of the health care expenditure more than one of every 10 U. S. health care dollars and one of four Medicare dollars.

Type 2 diabetes represents a syndrome with disordered metabolism of carbohydrate and fat. The most prominent clinical feature is hyperglycemia (fasting plasma glucose level > 126 mg/dL, or glycosylated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) > 6.9%). In most patients with type 2 diabetes, the onset is in adulthood, most commonly in obese people over 40 years of age. Hypertension, hyperlipidemia, hyperinsulinemia, and atherosclerosis are often associated with diabetes.

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