The benefits of terpenoids as functional foods for the managementof type 2 diabetes mellitus

Resumen

Millions of people worldwide are living with type 2 diabetes, and the numbers are rising at an unsustainable rate. Furthermore, many of those with type 2 diabetes suffer from micro and macrovascular complications that limit their quality of life and longevity as well as impose a significant financial burden on individuals and health systems worldwide. Many individuals living with type 2 diabetes are reliant on oral medications or a combination of oral and injectable insulin as treatment and for multiorgan complications from unregulated and prolonged states of high blood sugar levels. Many of these medications are an obstacle to adherence to treatment due to their side effects, which include but are not limited to gastrointestinal discomfort, headaches, urinary tract infections, and hypoglycemia. For many of the uninsured or underinsured in the United States and in developing countries, the cost of these medications is an additional burden that determines their treatment adherence and leads to undesirable complications. These drawbacks to current pharmacological treatments have led to interest and research into various bioactive compounds and phytochemicals such as alkaloids, polyphenols, flavonoids, and terpenoids to use as functional foods to mitigate the advance of type 2 diabetes. This editorial focuses on terpenoids and aims to review certain compounds within the subclasses of terpenoids that are being researched for their effectiveness in treating type 2 diabetes and, thereby, their potential use as a functional food product.