Cinnamomum zeylanicum and Zingiber officinale: Their Preventive Effect on Sugar and Lipids Levels in Rats with Experimental Diabetes

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic and complex disease accompanied by a decrease in the quality and duration of life due to long-term complications that cause damage to tissues and organs in the body such as the heart, eyes, and blood vessels. Despite the availability of therapeutic options such as oral hypoglycemic agents, research related to the enormous potential of medicinal plants in developing new drugs and efficiently treating diabetes is significantly increasing due to the high cost and side effects that synthetic drugs may cause, such as acute blood sugar lowering, gastrointestinal discomfort, lactic acidosis, and others. Cinnamomum zeylanicum )Cinnamon( and Zingiber officinale )ginger( are among the plants used in the treatment of diabetes since ancient times due to their richness in bioactive compounds and antioxidants, making them safer therapeutic alternatives. Based on the foregoing, this research aims to study the effect of water extracts of cinnamon, ginger, and a mixture of both on the blood sugar level and some biochemical parameters in experimentally induced diabetic rats using alloxan.

Materials and Methods: A total of 40 Wistar rats were induced with diabetes mellitus by being injected of alloxan (150 mg/kg), they were divided into five groups, each consisting of eight rats, the first group served as the natural control, while the second group represented the diabetic control, the third group received a cinnamon aqueous extract (300 mg/kg) treatment, and the fourth group received a ginger aqueous extract (400 mg/kg) treatment, the fifth group was given a combination of cinnamon (300 mg/kg) and ginger (400 mg/kg), the extracts were administered orally to the animals as a single dose in the morning for one month. Blood sugar levels were measured in the different groups on day 0 (start of the experiment), day 15 (midpoint of the experiment), and day 30 (end of the experiment), as well as the total cholesterol and triglyceride levels on day 0 and 30.

Results: The treatment of diabetic rats with a mixture of cinnamon and ginger for 30 days showed a highly significant reduction in blood sugar levels p=0.001, and a decrease in the levels of total cholesterol and triglycerides compared to the diabetic control group, administration of cinnamon extract alone and ginger alone for 15 days resulted in lower blood glucose levels that were very statistically significant p=0.006, p=0.007 respectively.

Conclusion: This study revealed that the mixture of cinnamon and ginger has a clear strong effect in reducing the levels of sugar, total cholesterol and triglycerides in experimental diabetic rats compared to using cinnamon or ginger alone, this could be attributed to the interaction between the active compounds in the mixture. However, further research is necessary to determine the effective dose for the best results.