Diabetes mellitus is a complex illness in which the body does not create enough insulin to control blood glucose levels. Worldwide, this disease is life-threatening and requires low-cost, side-effect-free medicine. Due to adverse effects, many synthetic hypoglycemic medications for diabetes fail. Mushrooms are known to contain natural bioactive components that may be anti-diabetic; thus, scientists are now targeting them. Mushroom extracts, which improve immune function and fight cancer, are becoming more popular. Mushroom-derived functional foods and dietary supplements can delay the onset of potentially fatal diseases and help treat pre-existing conditions, which leads to the successful prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes, which is restricted to the breakdown of complex polysaccharides by pancreatic-amylase and the suppression of intestinal-glucosidase. Many mushroom species are particularly helpful in lowering blood glucose levels and alleviating diabetes symptoms. Hypoglycaemic effects have been observed in investigations on Agaricussu brufescens, Agaricus bisporus, Cordyceps sinensis, Inonotus obliqus, Coprinus comatus, Ganoderma lucidum, Phellinus linteus, Pleurotus spp., Poria cocos, and Sparassis crispa. For diabetics, edible mushrooms are high in protein, vitamins, and minerals and low in fat and cholesterol. The study found that bioactive metabolites isolated from mushrooms, such as polysaccharides, proteins, dietary fibers, and many pharmacologically active compounds, as well as solvent extracts of mushrooms with unknown metabolites, have anti-diabetic potential in vivo and in vitro, though few are in clinical trials.

The diabetes-associated mortality rate is increasing annually, along with the severity of its accompanying disorders that impair human health. Worldwide, several medicinal plants are frequently urged for the management of diabetes. Reports are available on the use of medicinal plants by traditional healers for their blood-sugar-lowering effects, along with scientific evidence to support such claims. The Asteraceae family is one of the most diverse flowering plants, with about 1,690 genera and 32,000 species. Since ancient times, people have consumed various herbs of the Asteraceae family as food and employed them as medicine. Despite the wide variety of members within the family, most of them are rich in naturally occurring polysaccharides that possess potent prebiotic effects, which trigger their use as potential nutraceuticals. This review provides detailed information on the reported Asteraceae plants traditionally used as antidiabetic agents, with a major focus on the plants of this family that are known to exert antioxidant, hepatoprotective, vasodilation, and wound healing effects, which further action for the prevention of major diseases like cardiovascular disease (CVD), liver cirrhosis, and diabetes mellitus (DM). Moreover, this review highlights the potential of Asteraceae plants to counteract diabetic conditions when used as food and nutraceuticals. The information documented in this review article can serve as a pioneer for developing research initiatives directed at the exploration of Asteraceae and, at the forefront, the development of a botanical drug for the treatment of DM.

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Endophytic fungal isolates (139 no.) were obtained from 143 (62 roots, 18 fruits and 54 leaves) samples of 15 different varieties of banana collected from 10 sites in Assam, India during 2018-2019. Overall isolation frequency from surface-sterilized tissue ranged from 10%-80% (as per site) and 6%-70% (as per variety of banana). All isolates were segregated into 40 different types on the basis of macromorphological and micro morphological characteristics. Forty different fungal taxa were isolated belonging to 14 genera including Absidia, Arthrinium, Aspergillus, Bipolaris, Cladosporium, Curvularia, Dendrophion, Fusarium, Humicola, Mortierella, Mucor, Penicillium, Paecilomyces, Verticillium and one mycelium sterile. Among them, Cladosporium cladosporioidies and Paecilomyces sp. frequently occurred in most of the sites surveyed whereas Cladospoirum cladosporioides and Aspergillus sp. 8, Fusarium graminseram were most frequently isolated from different varieties. However, all sites differed in their fungal diversity. Banana samples from Narigoan and Jorhat have been found with maximum fungal species followed by marigoan samples so as to Banana varieties Amrit Sagar endowed 27 no. of fungi followed by Jehaji and Honda which were associated with a maximum 14 fungal sp. Isolation frequency and relative abundance of Cladosporium cladosporiodes (80%, 4.6), Paecilomyces farinosus (80%, 4.6) followed by Penicillium ruburm, Aspergillus sp. 8 & 9 (70%, 4.02) were recorded as maximum comparatively in different sites. However, Aspergillus sp. 8, Mortieralla sp. and Pacilomyces farinosus are isolated frequently from different banana varieties (73.33%, 4.93).