Role of phytomedicines in metabolic disorders

Abstract Metabolic disorders, whether inherited or acquired, are currently considered as global health concerns that are in desperate need of rapid and efficient therapeutic solutions. Despite the tremendous progress of modern medicine in diagnosing and treating many metabolic diseases, a considerable number of illnesses are still hard to manage. The economic and health burden of these disorders is increasing progressively due to multiple factors encompassing genetic transmission, unbalanced diets, and unhealthy modern lifestyles. Through the history of stubborn diseases, whenever the conventional medicine resources seem insufficient to deal with a health problem, traditional medicine has always a valuable thing to offer. The majority of traditional medicine systems, namely, Chinese, Indian, and Greco-Arab old medicine, recognized the symptoms of many metabolic disorders mainly obesity and diabetes. Ancient physicians used mainly medicinal plants and herbal formulas to treat patients or to alleviate the symptoms of certain metabolic disorders. The encouraging reported testimonies inspired the researchers to unravel the compositions of many of the prescribed plants using analytical techniques and also to test their effects in vitro. Depending on the obtained results, some of these plant extracts were investigated using animal models. However, only a few number of plant extracts and/or compounds were administrated to human subjects in randomized clinical trials, where most of the gathered results appear to be conflicting yet promising. The aims of this chapter are to give an overview of the ancient use of traditional medicine in the treatment of metabolic diseases and to discuss the findings obtained from in vitro, preclinical and clinical trials, in an attempt to provide a realistic perspective on the contemporary medical role of medicinal plants and their phytochemicals in the field of metabolic disorders.