Phytother Res. 2001 Nov; 15(7): 635-7.

An aqueous extract of the green leafy vegetable Ipomoea aquatica is as effective as the oral hypoglycaemic drug tolbutamide in reducing the blood sugar levels of Wistar rats.

Malalavidhane S, Wickramasinghe SM, Jansz ER.

Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka.

This study was undertaken to compare the oral hypoglycaemic activity of an aqueous extract of the green leafy vegetable Ipomoea aquatica (dose equivalent to 3.3 g starting material /kg body weight) with that of the known oral hypoglycaemic drug tolbutamide (15 mg/kg body weight) in glucose challenged Wistar rats (3 g/kg body weight, administered 30 min after the administration of Ipomoea aquatica or tolbutamide). One and half hours after administration of glucose (equivalent to 2 h after administration of plant extract or tolbutamide), the mean blood glucose level of the Ipomoea aquatica treated group was 47.5% lower than that of the control group treated with distilled water. The tolbutamide treated group showed a mean blood glucose level which was only 33.8% lower than that of the control group. However, statistical analysis indicated that the blood glucose levels of the Ipomoea aquatica treated group were not significantly different from that of the tolbutamide treated group. Our results show that the aqueous extract of Ipomoea aquatica is as effectve as tolbutamide in reducing the blood glucose levels of glucose-challenged Wistar rats.Copyright 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.