A retrospective clinical study on the effectiveness of the aqueous leaf extract of bredelia ferrugenia (benth) in the management of diabetes mellitus

Abstract

The increasing preference of diabetic patients for herbal medicines calls for the screening of candidate products to examine the risk to benefit ratio for users. In this study, one of such products Bridelia Tea from the Centre for Plant Medicine Research (CPMR) was evaluated. The product is prepared from the dried leaves of Bridelia ferruginea. Data from patients visiting the clinic of the CPMR between May 2012 and May 2013 were retrieved for analysis. Twenty-two (22) patient records which satisfied the selection criteria indicated that Bridelia tea caused a mean reduction in Fasting Blood Sugar (FBS) of 1.886 from a baseline FBS of 13.55 (±4.79). The decline in fasting blood sugar was concluded to be clinically and statistically insignificant after analysis and hence there is the need to review the product