Antidiabetic Effects of Curcuma longa, Zingiber officinale, and Elettaria cardamomum : Scoping Review of the Family Zingiberaceae in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes is a major problem affecting 387 million adults with a global prevalence of (8.3%) and is expected to increase to (10.1%) by 2035. The government recommends the use of herbal medicine as an effort to prevent and control diabetes mellitus. Potential herbal medicines that have antidiabetic effects are the family Zingiberaceae. Several in vitro studies on species of the Zingiberaceae showed antidiabetic activity by inhibiting the activity of the enzymes α-Amylase and α-Glucosidase. However, one problem related to the use of antidiabetic herbs from the Zingiberaceae is the lack of scientific studies showing the effects of the plants used. This scoping review aims to map clinical research evidence of the antidiabetic effects of Zingiberaceae in patients with diabetes mellitus. Using a scoping review methodology, article searches through computerized databases, namely: PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus, and search manually used English and Indonesian keywords. The initial search found 1239 articles, then filtered according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria such articles use the RCTs method that mentions the antidiabetic effect of Zingeberaceae family in English or Indonesian in the last 5 years (2017-2021). The results of the study showed 31 articles that met the requirements. 3 types of Zingiberaceae plants had antidiabetic effects, namely Curcuma longa (turmeric) with curcumin/nano-curcumin compounds, Elettaria cardamomum (cardamom), and Zingiber officinale (ginger) which can reduce HbA1c, fasting blood glucose, and insulin resistance in patients with diabetes mellitus with minimal side effects.