Therapeutic Effects of Balanites aegyptiaca DEL Extract on Diabetes Mellitus: A Systematic Review

Olubukola Adebisi Odeniran¹Adegboyega Moses Oyefabi^2*Ifeoluwa Oyeyemi³Adewale Adegboyega OKE⁴Grace Aziken⁵Grace Adebayo-Gege⁶Peter Ifeoluwa Adegbola⁷Lawrence Dayo Adedayo⁸Olunike Abodunrin⁹Folahanmi Akinsolu¹⁰Olajide Odunayo Sobande¹¹

• ¹Department of Medicinal Chemistry & amp; Quality Control, National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), Abuja, Nigeria
• ²Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Clinical Science, College of Medicine, Kaduna State University, Kaduna, Nigeria
• ³Department of Biosciences and Biotechnology, University of Medical Sciences, Ondo, Nigeria
• ⁴Department of Medical Laboratory Science McPherson University, Seriki Sotayo, Ogun State, Nigeria
• ⁵Department of Computer Science, University of Benin,, Benin, Nigeria
• ⁶Department of Physiology, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences Baze University, Abuja, Nigeria
• ⁷Department of Biochemistry and Forensic Science, Faculty of Natural and Applied Sciences, Abiola Ajimobi Technical University,, Ibadan, Nigeria
• ⁸Department of Human Physiology, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Federal University., Wukari, Taraba State, Nigeria
• ⁹Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, Nanjing Medical University, 210029,, Nanjing, China
• ¹⁰Center for Reproduction and Population Health Studies, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Yaba,, Lagos, Nigeria
• ¹¹Nigeria Institute of Medical Research Foundation, Clinical Sciences Department, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research,, Yaba, Lagos State, Nigeria

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality globally as it is associated with long-term health complications which affect the quality of life. Several plants are used in traditional medicine to manage diabetes, with claims of efficacy from traditional healers. One such plant is Balanites aegyptiaca (L.) Delile commonly called Desert Date. This systematic review examines the therapeutic effect of B.aegyptiaca on diabetes mellitus.The protocol for the systematic review was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42024587444).Four databases were searched for articles from 1986 to 1 st August 2024. Keywords related to "therapeutic effect", "Balanites aegyptiaca" and "diabetes mellitus" were used. Studies included were all animal models. Each article was critically appraised by two independent reviewers for their methodological quality using the Joanna Briggs Institute Case Control Checklist. The Cochrane SYRICLE Risk of bias tool was used for risk of bias assessment in these animal intervention studies. The animal experiments were conducted mainly in Alloxanand streptozotocin-induced rat/mice diabetes and a control of non-diabetes induced rats Result: A total of 32 articles were included. All the studies were appraised for blood glucose levels, and a reduction in blood glucose was reported in all in vivo studies, regardless of the plant part used. Significant decrease in blood glucose level was recorded in Alloxan-and streptozotocin-induced rat/mice diabetes. All the studies reported reduced blood glucose, reduced levels of lipids, reduced weight and increased insulin production. B. aegyptiaca mitigated hyperglycaemia irrespective of the presentation form, which includes extract and meal supplementation in rodents, oral capsule intake, and tea or fruit consumption in humans.Various mechanisms, including modulation of glucose metabolizing enzymes, were reported to underlie the B. aegyptiaca antidiabetic effect.presentation forms controlled hyperglycaemia in animal-models. A full-phase clinical trial is needed to determine the therapeutic effects of B. aegyptiaca in humans.