Ethnomedicinal Knowledge of Plants Used in Nonconventional Medicine in the Management of Diabetes Mellitus in Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo)

BACKGROUND: People with diabetes, herbalists, and traditional medicine practitioners (TMPs) from Kinshasa use plants to treat diabetes, but no study has inventoried the plants used by these populations. The present study was conducted to identify the plants used in Kinshasa to treat diabetes mellitus. METHODS: The survey conducted in the form of a semistructured interview between March 2005 and August 2006 made it possible to collect ethnobotanical information from people with diabetes (n = 126), herbalists (n = 80), and TMPs (n = 120). RESULTS: The 326 subjects consulted (sex ratio M/F = 0.6, age 51 ± 7 years, and experience: 17 ± 5 years) provided information on 71 plants, most of which are trees (35%), belonging to 38 families dominated by Fabaceae (19.7%) and indicated in 51 other cases of consultation dominated by malaria (12%). From these 71 plants derived, 86 antidiabetic recipes were administered orally, where the leaf is the most used part (>50%) and the decoction (>46%) is the most common mode of preparation. This study reports for the first time the antidiabetic use of 11 species, among which Tephrosia vogelii(X) (0.08), Chromolaena corymbosa(X) (0.06), and Baphia capparidifolia(X) (0.06) present the highest consensus indexes (CI) and Marsdenia latifolia(W) (UVp = 0.08) and Rauvolfia mannii(X) (UVp = 0.06) present the highest UVs. CONCLUSION: The results show that Kinshasa people treat diabetes using several plants. Some are specific to the ecological environment; others are used in other regions. Pharmacological studies are underway to assess the therapeutic efficacy of these plants.