**7. Conclusion**

**Figure 10.** *Prosopis glandulosa* plant

328 Antioxidant-Antidiabetic Agents and Human Health

antioxidant-rich compounds [187].

**Figure 11.** Tamarindus indica plant

*Tamarindus indica* Linn (Family: caesalpiniaceae) is a plant that grows naturally in tropical and subtropical regions and has become an important plant for food, herbs in many parts of the world [183]. Literature studies reported *Tamarindus indica* as a traditional medicine for the management of diabetes mellitus in human and experimental animals [184-185]. Siddhuraju [183] reported the potential antioxidant activity of *Tamarindus indica* seeds isolating the antioxidant components 2-hydroxy-30,40-dihydroxyacetophenone, methyl 3,4- ihydroxyben‐ zoate, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetate and oligomeric proanthocyanidins. Phenolic compounds such as procyanidin B2, epicatechin, procyanidin trimer, procyanidin tetramer, procyanidin pentamer, procyanidin hexamer, polymeric tannins, polymeric tannins are also present in the seeds of *Tamarindus indica* [186]. It has been postulated that the antidiabetic property of *Tamarindus indica* observed in experimental animals may be due to the presence of the

**6.3.** *Tamarindus indica*

The pathophysiology of most of the diseases affecting mankind today (*diabetes mellitus* inclusive) seems to have a common denominator, namely oxidative stress. Although, it is a wide topic with several theories, mechanisms, sites and targets of action, reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been implicated in the management of many diseases. As a result, antiox‐ idants have received overwhelming attention in recent years with many outstanding achieve‐ ments. Most therapeutic agents and drugs are either antioxidants or act primarily to prevent the formation of excess ROS. Therefore it is not surprising to note that natural products with antioxidant properties from plant origin are again gaining prominence in research circles all over the world.

Currently, a lot of therapeutic agents with different modes of action have been designed to combat hyperglycemia; the efficacy and effectiveness of these agents are limited due to several reasons. Individual agent with particular mechanism of action can only act on part of the pathogenic process and only to a partial extent [188-189]. Also, several defects in the patho‐ physiology of diabetes remain unresolved, and therefore, result in the inability to single out a drug target to focus on as human systems are too interwoven and complex to be fully under‐ stood through conventional experimental protocols [190]. However, combination of natural products and phytomedicines from different plants present in most traditional medicines appears to take a different, more holistic approach. These medicinal preparations contain a variety of natural products that act synergistically on a variety of targets through different mechanisms fighting the disease in a more efficient manner. Consequently, the conventional, unidirectional therapeutic method in the management of diabetes seems to be gradually replaced by a more holistic, multidimensional approach
