NAAN

Natural antidiabetic & anti-hypertensive drugs

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Hypertension and its complications appear to be increasingly common in Egypt. The overall estimated prevalence of hypertension in Egypt was 26.3%. Hypertension prevalence increased progressively with age. Overall, 37.5% of hypertensive individuals were aware that they had high blood pressure, 23.9% were being treated with antihypertensive medications, and only 8.0% were under control. These results indicate that the rates of hypertension awareness, treatment, and control are relatively low. Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a complex metabolic disorder that increases tremendously all over the world. Diabetes and its complications impose significant economic consequences on individuals, families, health systems and countries. Many medicinal plants have been used to treat (DM) and hypertension since the ancient times as reported in the Ebers papyrus in Egypt. Phytotherapy is not yet included in the evidence-based medicine, especially with respect to DM and hypertension therapies. Studies of potential anti-diabetic and antihypertensive plants will definitely confer scientific and systematic approach for the use of these plants as hypoglycaemic and hypotensives agents. Solanum fruits and Egyptian dates have been used since ancient times as antihypertensive and antidiabetic in African folk medicine. Although, little is known so far about the active constituents and mechanism of action of Solanum fruits, its long use in African folk medicine and the fact that it belongs to everyday food in several countries, encouraged us to subject this obviously safe plant to detailed scientific research, in order to produce a safe and effective anti-hypertensive preparation. The project aims to define the most active fraction of the 2 plants extracts and determine their mechanism of action as anti-hypertensive and antidiabetic drugs respectively. This will be as a first step to the development of safe and effective natural drugs.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

In many instances, herbs are used as medicinal products to treat or alleviate the symptoms of many conditions. A European study discovered that certain fruits have anti-diabetic and anti-hypertensive properties.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), millions of deaths are caused every year by high blood pressure (hypertension). Hypertension is tightly associated with a higher risk for stroke and coronary heart diseases while diabetes is linked to bad eating habits and lack of exercise. In developing countries, where health care is still immature, hypertension and metabolic diseases such as diabetes are on the rise. Especially in Egypt, the prevalence of hypertension and diabetes is alarmingly high.

Since ancient times, many medicinal plants have been used to treat diabetes and hypertension. With this in mind, the work of the EU-funded 'Natural antidiabetic & anti-hypertensive drugs' (NAAN) project focused on exploitation of the fruits of Solanum distichum and Balanites aegyptiaca as anti-hypertensive and anti-diabetic agents, respectively.

As a first step, NAAN researchers isolated and characterised the bioactive compounds from these plants through different chromatography techniques. They performed pharmacological evaluation of the active extracts and after elucidating their structure, they determined the mechanisms of action against hypertension and diabetes.

The key objective of the NAAN study was to develop safe and effective herbal products that could be commercially exploited by pharmaceutical companies and supported by the Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA) at the Ministry of Health.

Although initial results are promising, further clinical studies are required to establish these fruits as herbal medicines for the treatment of diabetes and hypertension. Nonetheless, project findings underscore the value of a healthy nutrition in maintaining low blood pressure and normal metabolism.