Hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic effect of ash gourd (benincasa hispida) and curry leaves (murraya koenigii)

Diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases represent an enormous, medical, social and economic burden to the public. Many genetic and lifestyle factors are involved in the etiology of these diseases. Hence, the present study was undertaken with an objective to select and study the background information and nutritional status of hyperlipidemic diabetics, elicit details on medical history and to study the impact of ash gourd and curry leaves on the blood glucose and lipid profile. A group of 200 diabetics were selected initially. Salad was prepared by using 100gm of ash gourd and one gram of curry leaves (10 curry leaves) and five grams of skimmed milk powder (made into curd) and pepper and salt are added for taste. This salad was freshly prepared every day and distributed personally to the selected hyperlipidemic diabetics in experimental group (N=20) as mid morning for a period of three months (90 days) to find out the effect of supplementation of ash gourd and curry leaves. Supplementation of ash gourd and curry leaves had significant hypoglycemic and hypolidemic effect and it had reduced the blood glucose level (both fasting and post prandial), within the period of three months.