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Communication

Antidiabetic Components Contained in Vegetables and Legumes

School of Life Sciences, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo 255049, P. R. China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Molecules 2008, 13(5), 1189-1194; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules13051189
Submission received: 9 May 2008 / Revised: 22 May 2008 / Accepted: 22 May 2008 / Published: 23 May 2008

Abstract

:
Epidemiological analyses in a large Chinese population have revealed that consumption of vegetables and legumes is inversely associated with the risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D). However, the health benefits of these plants have not been fully explained, which stimulated our interest to identify antidiabetic components from vegetables and legumes through searching medicinal databases, especially those containing traditional Chinese medicines. The results not only provide meaningful clues to understanding the antidiabetic potentials of these plants but also display the possibility of pinpointing food component functions by searching medicinal databases.

Introduction

It is well known that certain foods may have the potential to prevent diseases [1,2]. For instance, the Mediterranean diet is helpful to lowering the risks of coronary heart disease, cancer and cognitive impairment [3,4,5]. Consumption of green tea is beneficial for preventing cancer and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) [6,7,8]. Recently, Villegas and co-workers reported that adherence to vegetables (including cruciferous vegetables, green leafy vegetables, yellow vegetables, allium vegetables, tomatoes and others) and legumes (including soybean, peanut, etc.) is inversely associated with the risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in a large Chinese population [9,10]. However, the health benefits of these plants have not been fully explained, which stimulated our interest to address this issue further. Considering the fact that some foods have been recognized as natural medicines, in particular some vegetables and legumes have been used as traditional medicines in China for many years, we speculated that it is highly possible to pinpoint food component functions by searching medicinal databases, especially those containing traditional Chinese medicines.
Figure 1. TCMD-documented vegetable and legume components with aldose reductase inhibitory or hypoplycemic activity.
Figure 1. TCMD-documented vegetable and legume components with aldose reductase inhibitory or hypoplycemic activity.
Molecules 13 01189 g001

Results and Discussion

Primarily, we searched the Traditional Chinese Medicine Database (TCMD), which documents ~10,000 components extracted from ~4,600 traditional medicinal agents [11]. Hundreds of components were identified from vegetables and legumes that are recorded in the TCMD. According to the pharmacological activity annotations, we found that some components (Figure 1) are directly associated with prevention and/or treatment of T2D, because of their aldose reductase inhibitory or hypoplycemic activity.
Besides, the functions of many other vegetable and legume components (e.g., antiatherosclerotic, antihypertensive, antilipemic, antithrombotic, lipase inhibitory, lipid peroxidation inhibitory, lipoxygenase inhibitory and platelet aggregation inhibitory) are also associated with ameliorating T2D (Table 1) [12,13,14,15,16].
Table 1. TCMD-documented vegetable and legume functional components associated with ameliorating type 2 diabetes.
Table 1. TCMD-documented vegetable and legume functional components associated with ameliorating type 2 diabetes.
CompoundActivitySource
AframodialAntilipemic Zingiber (Zingiber officinale Rosc.)
Agavasaponin CPlatelet aggregation inhibitoryGarlic (Allium sativum L.)
AllicinAntihypertensive;Shallot (Allium fislulosum L.);
AntithromboticGarlic (Allium sativum L.)
AlliinAntithrombotic;Onion (Allium cepa L.);
Platelet aggregation inhibitoryGarlic (Allium sativum L.)
BergaptenAntihypertensiveTomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Miller)
beta-SitosterolAntilipemic Black soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.)
CampheneAntilipemic Zingiber (Zingiber officinale Rosc.);
Mint (Mentha haplocalyx Briq.)
DaidzeinLipase inhibitory Black soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.)
Ferulic acidPlatelet aggregation inhibitoryOnion (Allium cepa L.)
GenisteinLipase inhibitoryBlack soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.)
GlyciteinLipoxygenase inhibitoryBlack soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.)
Isoeruboside BPlatelet aggregation inhibitoryGarlic (Allium sativum L.)
IsorhamnetinAntilipemic;
Platelet aggregation inhibitory
Cress (Oenanthe javanica (B1.)DC.)
KaempferolΔ-5-lipoxygenase inhibitoryWild pea (Vicia amoena Fisch. ex DC.)
LeucocyanidinPlatelet aggregation inhibitoryGroundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.)
LycopeneAntiatheroscleroticTomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Miller);
Bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.)
Methyl allyl trisulfidePlatelet aggregation inhibitory Garlic (Allium sativum L.)
MyristicinPlatelet aggregation inhibitory Wild celery (Apium graveolens L.)
p-Coumaric acidAntilipemicPotato (Solanum tuberosum L.)
Proto-iso-eruboside BAntithromboticGarlic (Allium sativum L.)
Rosmarinic acidAntithrombotic;
Platelet aggregation inhibitory
Mint (Mentha haplocalyx Briq.)
6-ShogaolAntihypertensive;
Platelet aggregation inhibitory
Zingiber (Zingiber officinale Rosc.)
SolasoninePlatelet aggregation inhibitoryCapsicum (Capsicum annuum L.);
Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.)
Soyasaponin A1Antilipemic;
Antithrombotic
Black soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.)
Soyasaponin A2AntilipemicBlack soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.)
Soyasaponin A3Lipoxygenase inhibitoryBlack soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.)
Soyasaponin A4Lipoxygenase inhibitoryBlack soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.)
Soyasaponin A5Lipoxygenase inhibitoryBlack soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.)
Soyasaponin A6Lipoxygenase inhibitoryBlack soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.)
Soyasaponin VLipoxygenase inhibitoryBlack soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.);
White kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)
StigmasterolAntilipemicBlack soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.);
Purple haricot (Lablab purpureus (L.)Sweet);
Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.);
White kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)
TomatineAntihypertensiveTomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Miller)
2-Vinyl-4H-1,3-dithiinPlatelet aggregation inhibitory;
Antithrombotic;
5-lipoxygenase inhibitory
Garlic (Allium sativum L.)
Furthermore, through comparing the structures of these components with those recorded in the Comprehensive Medicinal Chemistry (CMC) database (which records ~8,000 clinically used drugs) [17] and the MDL Drug Data Report (MDDR) database (which collects ~145,000 drug candidates) [18], we found that some of these agents have been recognized by modern Western medicine (Table 2). Although some activities annotated in CMC and MDDR are not the same as displayed in TCMD, they are also associated with combating T2D. Taken together, the present analysis clearly indicates that vegetables and legumes indeed contain many antidiabetic components, which provide new clues to understanding the beneficial effects of vegetable and legume consumption on the risk of T2D [9,10].
Table 2. CMC- and MDDR-documented vegetable and legume functional components associated with ameliorating type 2 diabetes.
Table 2. CMC- and MDDR-documented vegetable and legume functional components associated with ameliorating type 2 diabetes.
CompoundActivity
AllicinHypolipidemic (CMC/MDDR);
Hypocholesterolemic (CMC);
Platelet aggregation inhibitory (MDDR)
6-ShogaolCyclooxygenase inhibitory (MDDR);
Lipoxygenase inhibitory (MDDR)
beta-Sitosterinum (beta-Sitosterol)Hypolipidemic (CMC)
Stigmasterin (Stigmasterol)Antiatherosclerotic (CMC)

Conclusions

Since only a small part of natural medicinal components have been documented in medicinal databases, the presently identified vegetable and legume functional components are only the tip of the iceberg. It is expected that with the progress of medicinal chemistry and pharmacology, more and more antidiabetic agents will be identified from foods. In fact, in a very recent study, it was reported that some triterpenoids derived from bitter melon are promising antidiabetic agents [19].
In nutrition studies, it is always a challenge to pinpoint the functions of food components to elucidate the epidemiological discoveries. The present study indicates that it is possible to explain (although partially) the health benefits of foods from the activities annotated in medicinal databases, which is of great significance to the study of food science and technology and even drug discovery.

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (grant 2003CB114400) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant 30570383).

References and Notes

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MDPI and ACS Style

Tang, G.-Y.; Li, X.-J.; Zhang, H.-Y. Antidiabetic Components Contained in Vegetables and Legumes. Molecules 2008, 13, 1189-1194. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules13051189

AMA Style

Tang G-Y, Li X-J, Zhang H-Y. Antidiabetic Components Contained in Vegetables and Legumes. Molecules. 2008; 13(5):1189-1194. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules13051189

Chicago/Turabian Style

Tang, Guang-Yan, Xue-Juan Li, and Hong-Yu Zhang. 2008. "Antidiabetic Components Contained in Vegetables and Legumes" Molecules 13, no. 5: 1189-1194. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules13051189

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