Development of Functional Foods to Cure Diabetes from Seasonal Fruits and Vegetables

Functional foods are chemical compounds that are naturally bioactive and have health-giving preventive medicine because of their medicinal properties and nutritional composition. Epidemiologic research has established abundant health effects of functional food utilization, such as lowering hyperglycemic index, anti-cholesterol, the decline in cancer risk, etc. This research work relates to inventing a novel, economically feasible, and preferably biologically active antidiabetic functional food product from the combination of the four most dominant, low-cost, edible plant parts. These are Allium sativum (Garlic), Emlica officinalis (Amla), Ceylon zeylanicum (cinnamon), and Momordica charantia (bitter gourd). The main goal of this study is to evaluate anti-hyperglycemic activity, especially in Type II diabetes (non-insulin-dependent). During the experimental trials, oral feeding of the functional food supplement for 28 days to Allaxon- induced diabetic rabbit's decreased hyperglycemic effects significantly. The functional food supplement produced a significant hypoglycemic effect in all three doses after 28 days. The most effective dose found was 75mg/kg body weight. The maximum fall of 68.93% was observed after oral administration at a 75mg/kg body weight dose. Functional food products have also been analyzed for macronutrients carbohydrates, protein, fat, fiber, and micronutrients: vitamins, minerals, and total phenols. All the macro and micronutrients were found in reasonable quantities.