AUTHOR=Pérez-Muñoz Eréndira Patricia , Antunes-Ricardo Marilena , Martínez-Ávila Mariana , Guajardo-Flores Daniel 

TITLE=Eryngium Species as a Potential Ally for Treating Metabolic Syndrome and Diabetes

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Nutrition

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2022.878306

DOI=10.3389/fnut.2022.878306

ISSN=2296-861X

ABSTRACT=Medicinal plants possess natural compounds that can be used as an alternative for synthetic medicines that may cause long-term side effects such as neurocognitive effects, muscular and hepatic toxicity. Metabolic Syndrome is associated with increased risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dyslipidemia, and hypertension, becoming the greatest challenge as public health concern worldwide. Latin-American countries possess a wide diversity of medicinal plants that have been used to treat different health conditions since pre-Hispanic times. Eryngium spp. has been studied due to their beneficial properties mainly to treat diabetes, dyslipidemia, blood pressure, and digestive problems. This review gives an update mainly on the pharmacological activities of the Eryngium spp., summarizing the biological activities and plausible mechanism of action of their bioactive components towards metabolic syndrome. For instance, flavonoids and tannins proved to increase the levels of HDL and reduced the levels of VLDL, LDL. On the other hand, phenolic acids improved glucose metabolism through the inhibition of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase and glucose 6-phosphatase (G6Pase) and reestablished the impaired activity of enzymes related to glucose oxidation and glycogen synthesis. The terpenes and sesquiterpenes like β-farnese, β-pinene, and calamenene exhibited a protective effect by reducing the oxidizing damage by the regulation of the Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). Saponins controlled the dyslipidemia by reducing the serum concentrations of lipids, triglycerides and total cholesterol. Finally, the aerial parts of Eryngium had the capacity of inhibiting dietary carbohydrate digestive enzymes, thus controlling glucose levels. The Eryngium plant is normally consumed as an infusion to obtain the benefits of the plants, however novel technologies such as cavitation, ultrasound assisted, microwave assisted, and supercritical fluid have been applied to improve the extraction yields and selectivity of bioactive compounds. The common treatment to control diabetic dyslipidemia such as metformin and ezetimibe, allows the regulation of glucose, cholesterol and insulin resistance. However, patients  may present side effects such as muscular toxicity, hepatic toxicity, neurocognitive effects. More studies regarding the efficacy and safety of traditional medicinal herbs are required to be used in the treatment of diabetes related conditions to ensure life quality and reduce side effects among the diabetic population.