The hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic effects of Olea europaea L. leaves on fructose-induced diabetic wistar rats

Type 2 Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disorder of carbohydrates, protein and lipid metabolism ending up with serious complications such retinopathy, nephropathy and neuropathy. Olea europaea L. leaves are extensively used worldwide in conventional medicine of several diseases, especially Diabetes mellitus. The purpose of the present study was to assess the influence of olive leaves extract on normal and fructose-induced diabetic male rats. To assess the hypoglycemic effect of olive leaves extract, five groups of rats were formed. The first was used as normal control (treated with distilled water), the second was normal treated with a dose of 500mg/kg.bw of the extract, the third was diabetic control (treated with distilled water), the fourth and fifth groups were diabetic groups administered with the extract (500 mg/kg.bw) and anti-diabetic drug (25 µg/kg.bw) respectively. The treatment lasted 28 days during which the variations of fasting blood glucose, body weight, the food and water consumption were reported and total Cholesterol and Triglycerides were measured for all groups at the end of the treatments. The extract of olive leaves has shown a remarkable anti-hyperglycemic activity accompanied by a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in the body weight of rats. In addition, chronic treatment of rats by the extract improved the lipid parameters of diabetic rats. The present results proved the hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic activities of the olive leaves extract and confirmed its use in traditional treatment of diabetes. However, additional investigations are needed to isolate the active compounds responsible for these activities, identify its mode of action and enhance it for a safe and a successful usage.