Nutritional Profiling, Phytochemical Composition and Antidiabetic Potential of Taraxacum officinale, an Underutilized Herb

Taraxacum officinale (T. officinale), a wild vegetable with a number of health claims, has been mostly ignored and unexplored. The study aims to compare the nutritional, phytochemical as well as antidiabetic potential of fresh as well as shade-dried leaves of T. officinale, in order to recommend its best form as a dietary antidiabetic product. The results revealed that as compared to fresh leaves, the shade-dried leaves, in addition to possessing higher levels of carbohydrates, crude protein, crude fat, crude fiber, etc., also contain appreciable amounts of total phenols (5833.12 ± 4.222 mg/100), total flavonoids (188.84 ± 0.019 mg/100 g), ascorbic acid (34.70 ± 0.026 mg/100 g), β-carotene (3.88 ± 1.473 mg/100 g) and total chlorophyll (239.51 ± 0.015 mg/100 g) antioxidants. The study revealed the presence of medicinally important antidiabetic flavonoid quercetin present in T. officinale leaves. Among the three solvent systems used, the aqueous extract of shade-dried T. officinale leaves comparatively demonstrated potent antidiabetic activity under in vitro conditions in a dose-dependent manner via targeting α-amylase and α-glucosidase, the two potent enzymes of carbohydrate metabolism. Therefore, in addition to being a nutritious herb, the shade-dried leaves of T. officinale have great potential to suppress post-prandial glucose rise and can be better exploited through clinical trials to be used as a dietary intervention for better management of diabetes.