RESEARCH ARTICLE


Effect of Unripe Plantain (Musa paradisiaca) and Ginger (Zingiber officinale) on Blood Glucose, Body Weight and Feed Intake of Streptozotocin-induced Diabetic Rats



Iroaganachi M1, Eleazu C.O*, 2, Okafor P.N3, Nwaohu N2
1 Department of Food Science and Technology, Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, Nigeria
2 National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike, Nigeria
3 Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Nigeria


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Creative Commons License
© Iroaganachi et al.; Licensee Bentham Open.

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike, Nigeria; Tel: +2348034164686; Email: eleazon@yahoo.com


Abstract

Objective:

To determine the effect of unripe plantain (Musa paradisiaca) and ginger (Zingiber officinale) on blood glucose (BG), feed intake (FI) and weight of streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetic rats.

Methods:

Twenty four male albino rats were used and were divided into 4 groups of 6 rats each. Group 1 (non-diabetic) and Group 2 (diabetic) received standard rat feed; Group 3 received unripe plantain incorporated feed (810 /kg body weight) and Group 4 received unripe plantain+ginger incorporated feed (710:100 g/kg body weight). The weights and FI of the rats were measured daily throughout the experimentation.

Results:

Groups 3 and 4 rats had 159.52% and 71.83% decreases in BG but 24.91% and 35.32% decreases in weights compared with groups 1 and 2 rats that had 2.09% and 22.94% increases in BG with 13.42% increase and 45.36% decrease in weights respectively. The FI of the experimental rats did not differ significantly from each other (P>0.05) at the end of experimentation. The standard rat feed contained higher amounts of Ca but lower amounts of Mg and Fe compared with the unripe plantain and unripe plantain+ginger incorporated feeds.

Conclusion:

Combination of unripe plantain and ginger at the dose used in the management of diabetes was not very effective compared with unripe plantain alone.

Keywords: Diabetes, Streptozotocin, Dietary incorporation, Nutrient composition..