Indigenous Plants May Help Diabetes Sufferers

[Mekeda7]

Indigenous Plants May Help Diabetes Sufferers
February 27, 2004


Clinical trials may be done towards the end of the year with three indigenous plants believed to have diabetes-treating properties, the Medical Research Council (MRC) has unveiled.

Research has provisionally found the plants - currently prescribed by traditional healers to their patients - to be effective and non-toxic, Sonia Wolfe-Coote, the MRC diabetes research head, said in Pretoria today.

Tests on laboratory rats have yielded promising results, she told Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, the health minister, and health MECs during a presentation on the disease and its effects on South Africa. If successful, a drug developed from the research would be much cheaper than existing commercial medicine for type 2 diabetes. Existing medicines were too costly for most South Africans, Wolfe-Coote added.

Some eight million South Africans were believed to be afflicted by type 2 diabetes and needed to use medicine every day of their lives. She declined to name the three plants being tested, but said they were found only in South Africa.

The research started with diabetes patients at Eastern Cape clinics being questioned about the type of treatments prescribed to them by traditional healers, and whether these worked. This was followed by tests of the plants' active ingredients on tissue cultures, and then on laboratory rats. The MRC's diabetes research group worked closely with the University of Port Elizabeth and the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) on the project.

Apart from the obvious benefits for diabetes sufferers, the development of an indigenous drug would boost job creation though the establishment of commercial farms to cultivate the medicinal plants. The ARC has already started research in this area, the gathering was told. Wolfe-Coote said the research group hoped to start with clinical trials by the end of this year - but this depended on funding. The research had been done on a shoestring budget so far.

To fully exploit the research - and to extend it to all nine provinces - just over R8 million was needed for each of the following three years, she told Tshabalala-Msimang and MECs.

Partnership
Johan Louw, a research group scientist, said an agreement has been struck with traditional healers and their communities for a 50/50 benefit-sharing scheme once the drug became commercially available. Wolfe-Coote said diabetes was one of the most challenging public health problems of the 21st century - particularly for the African continent.

It was the fourth or fifth leading cause of death in most countries, and its spread was being fanned in the developing world by changing cultural and socio-economic changes. This included a more fatty and unhealthy western diet, and reduced physical activity. By 2025, it is expected that 76% of diabetes sufferers would be in developing countries, Wolfe-Coote says.

Also worrying was that diabetes sufferers were increasingly younger. Nowadays, most sufferers in South Africa were between the ages of 40 and 59. Tshabalala-Msimang welcomed the research in light of the extent of the problem in South Africa and the search for more affordable medicines.

"It also assists us to be open-minded about traditional medicines," she said.

One had to remember, however, that the distribution of government resources was a tricky matter requiring much juggling, Tshabalala-Msimang stated. - Sapa

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