Medicinal plants and natural active compounds for diabetes and/or obesity treatmen

Overweight and obesity are major risk factors for a number of chronic diseases, especially type 2 diabetes (T2D), leading to increase healthcare costs and decrease in life expectancy. The incidence of obesity and T2D are in continuing rise. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 35% of adults aged 20 and over were overweight in 2008, and 11% were obese. Moreover, T2D prevalence has increased from less than 10% in 1980 to more than 30% nowadays. Free fatty acids (FFA) represent a crucial link between obesity, inflammation and insulin resistance and, as such, reduction in elevated plasma FFA should be an important therapeutic target in obesity and T2D. There are several types of glucose-lowering drugs including insulin sensitizers, insulin secretagogues and α-glucosidase inhibitors. Most glucose-lowering drugs, however, have side effects, such as severe hypoglycemia, idiosyncratic liver cell injury, lactic acidosis, permanent neurological deficit, digestive discomfort, headache and dizziness. Hence, it is crucial to search for new drugs that would potentially have no or less side effects. Medicinal plant drug discovery provides important leads against various pharmacological targets. A large number of plants used in the traditional medicine have now become a part of the modern world health care system. Natural novel drugs are now more achievable due to modern techniques for separation, structure elucidation, screening and bio- and chemo-informatics. We invite investigators to contribute overview and original research articles dealing with the physiological as well as molecular and biochemical efficacy of medicinal plants and natural active compounds in treating T2D and obesity in vitro and in vivo. We are interested in articles that explore aspects of medicinal plants and their active compounds in obesity treatment, insulin sensitizing and particularly in the research of new targets for insulin sensitizers. http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/si/109405/cfp/ eCAM special issue call for papers: Medicinal Plants and Natural Active Compounds for Diabetes and/or Obesity Treatment (PDF Download Available). Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271876546_eCAM_special_issue_call_for_papers_Medicinal_Plants_and_Natural_Active_Compounds_for_Diabetes_andor_Obesity_Treatment [accessed Jun 16, 2017].