The Potential of Psidium guajava in Lowering Blood Glucose Levels of Diet-induced Hyperglycemic Female White Sprague Dawley Rats

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disease that affects a lot of people worldwide. In line with this, aqueous leaf extracts from different varieties of Psidium guajava were evaluated for their potential in lowering elevated total blood glucose levels (hyperglycemia) by using diet-induced female Sprague Dawley rats. Both young and old leaves of the varieties
of P. guajava were also examined. Sixteen healthy female SpragueDawley rats weighing about 140-150 grams, bought from Java Pet Shop in Cebu, were used in the study. Diabetes in the rats was induced by feeding the animals with food of high glycemic index (white bread and sugar solution) for at least four weeks. After Diabetes induction, the rats were treated by the specific variety of P. guajava leaf aqueous extracts at a dose of 500 mg/kg body weight, and the synthetic drug, Metformin (500 mg) at a dose of 3 mg/kg daily for three days, once a day. After the three days of treatment, the total blood glucose level of the rats
decreased significantly (P<0.05). Furthermore, this was comparable to the antidiabetic drug, Metformin. Paired t-test revealed that based on one-tailed and two tailed test, blood glucose levels of rats treated with Native Guava (Young Leaves), Native Guava (Old Leaves), Pink Guava (Young Leaves), Pink Guava (Old Leaves), Apple Guava (Young Leaves), and Apple Guava (Old Leaves) all showed significant difference (P<0.05) compared with the hyperglycemic control. Pink Guava (Young Leaves) was found to be the most effective in treating hyperglycemia in the rats at a highest significant difference (p= 0.0001<0.05) compared with the Hyperglycemic control. There was no significant difference (P>0.05) compared with the synthetic drug, Metformin, which suggests
that the effect of P. guajava aqueous extracts is as effective as the established drug for Diabetes mellitus in the market.