Ethnobotanical treatments of diabetes in Baja California Norte.

This paper provides a brief review of the current biomedical knowledge on some of the medicinal plants used in the treatment of diabetes in Baja California Norte. In general there is very little biochemical knowledge of the specific modes of action in the treatment of diabetes, but most of the plants have been found to contain substances (e.g., glucosides, alkaloids) frequently implicated as having anti-diabetic effects. Furthermore, clinical studies with animals indicate that most of these plants do have hypoglycemic properties. This paper calls attention to the need for further biochemical investigations into the plant constituents and invites collaboration in the development of clinical field studies to assess the efficacy of herbalists' use of medicinal plants in the treatment of diabetes in Baja California Norte or other U.S.-Mexico border areas. Such research can make an important contribution to the World Health Organization's plan of "Health for All by the Year 2000" through establishing a scientific basis for traditional medicine.