Survey on Medicinal Plants used for Anti-diabetic Activity in Kaski District, Nepal

Abstract

Nepal is a Himalayan country with disproportionately rich cultural and ethnic diversity, recorded of over 700 species of medicinal plants. Most of the people in rural area rely on herbal medicines to treat diabetes mellitus since they have limited resources and do not have access to modern treatment. The main aim of the study was to search the medicinal plants used for diabetes mellitus for the development of evidence based medicine. The study was conducted in five different places of Kaski District, Nepal with two hundred numbers of respondents. It was found that majority of them had good knowledge on traditional use of the plants for diabetes and had been using 52 plant species of 35 families in which Asparagus racemosus, Momordica charantia, Berberis aristata, Azadiracta indica, Holorhena pubences, Eugenia jambolana, Aegle marmelous and Gymnema sylvestre are the most widely used plants for antidiabetic purposes.

Key words: Diabetes Mellitus, Medicinal Plants, Kaski District, Survey, Respondents