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Plants from the genus Passiflora have been chronicled in folk medicine. The leaf extract of Passiflora edulis has established its antiglycation property in vitro. Therefore this study aims to calibrate the extend of hypoglycemic property of P. edulis leaf extract and further provides a suitable alternative for prevention and control of hyperglycemic complications. A pre-post interventional community study was conducted in 41 type 2 DM patients by monitoring the fasting blood sugar level before and after administration of Passiflora edulis leaves extract for a period of 1 month. The mean plasma glucose level before the intervention was 193.44 mg/dl and during the intervention, it was reduced to 121.71 mg/dl that indicated a reduction of 37.1%. The paired 't' test using the mean values showed a strong evidence (t = 11.775, p < 0.001) for a significantly high reduction in the sugar level. The study indicates that the intake of P. edulis leaf extract suggests a remarkable reduction in blood sugar level during a four-week period in type 2 diabetic patients.

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BACKGROUNDVitamin D receptor (VDR), a member of the steroid hormone receptor family is involved in a variety of biological processes such as bone metabolism, modulation of immune response, regulation of cell proliferation and differentiation. Polymorphisms in VDR gene has been linked to a number of diseases like osteoarthritis, cancer, diabetes, etc. Since ethnic variations has been reported in the allele frequency of VDR polymorphisms, population specific data has to be generated before conducting a valid genetic association study.

Tea is consumed by a range of age groups in all levels of society. Tea is one of the richest sources of antioxidants and the three major forms of antioxidant tea are green tea, oolong tea and black tea. White tea is one of the newer entries. Antioxidant activity of tea is affected by many natural polyphenols: catechins, oxyaromatic acids, tannins, flavonols, thearubigins, theaflavins, etc. The present study was conducted to determine total antioxidant activity of different teas, black, white, green and oolong tea, to determine flavonoid content, total phenol content and study phytochemical screening of the different teas. A survey was conducted among 40 subjects to assess the popularity of tea consumption, awareness on the different varieties of tea, its health benefits, type and brand preferred etc. Among the four samples of tea, antioxidant activity was tested by using DPPH method. The methanolic extracts of white tea showed highest antioxidant activity, with IC₅₀ value of 231.52 μg/ml. Black tea showed weak antioxidant activity with IC₅₀ value of 317.45 μg/ml. The antioxidant activity of white tea was higher than the other varieties of teas. Flavonoid content is higher in white tea than in green, oolong and black tea. Phenol and tannin content was also high in white tea than other three teas. Hence antioxidant activity, free radical scavenging and microbial activity were higher in white tea than the other varieties. From the sensory evaluation conducted, white tea was found to be highly acceptable.