BackgroundDiabetes has become a serious health problem and a major risk factor associated with troublesome health complications, such as metabolism disorders and liver-kidney dysfunctions. The inadequacies associated with conventional medicines have led to a determined search for alternative natural therapeutic agents. The present study aimed to investigate and compare the hypoglycemic and antilipidemic effects of kombucha and black tea, two natural drinks commonly consumed around the world, in surviving diabetic rats.MethodsAlloxan diabetic rats were orally supplied with kombucha and black tea at a dose of 5 mL/kg body weight per day for 30 days, fasted overnight, and sacrificed on the 31st day of the experiment. Their bloods were collected and submitted to various biochemical measurements, including blood glucose, cholesterol, triglcerides, urea, creatinine, transaminases, transpeptidase, lipase, and amylase activities. Their pancreases were isolated and processed to measure lipase and α-amylase activities and to perform histological analysis.ResultsThe findings revealed that, compared to black tea, kombucha tea was a better inhibitor of α-amylase and lipase activities in the plasma and pancreas and a better suppressor of increased blood glucose levels. Interestingly, kombucha was noted to induce a marked delay in the absorption of LDL-cholesterol and triglycerides and a significant increase in HDL-cholesterol. Histological analyses also showed that it exerted an ameliorative action on the pancreases and efficiently protected the liver-kidney functions of diabetic rats, evidenced by significant decreases in aspartate transaminase, alanine transaminase, and gamma-glytamyl transpeptidase activities in the plasma, as well as in the creatinine and urea contents.ConclusionsThe findings revealed that kombucha tea administration induced attractive curative effects on diabetic rats, particularly in terms of liver-kidney functions. Kombucha tea can, therefore, be considered as a potential strong candidate for future application as a functional supplement for the treatment and prevention of diabetes.

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Summary Diabetes mellitus is a major endocrine disorder and a growing health problem in most countries which can be ameliorated by numerous bio-molecules such as 1 ␣ ,25 dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1 ␣ ,25(OH)2VD3]. With this in mind, the current study investigated the therapeutic and preventive effects of 1 ␣ ,25(OH)2VD3 on diabetes and its side effects: toxicity in liver, pancreas and kidneys. Our results show that administration of 1 ␣ ,25(OH)2VD3 in diabetic rats increased the plasmatic insulin level, favored the normal blood glucose levels and normalized the hepatic glycogen concentration. In addition, 1 ␣ ,25(OH)2VD3 enhanced superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) (by 207, 52 and 72%, respectively) compared to diabetic rats. It also reduced lipid peroxidation and the indices of toxicity in liver and kidneys by significantly decreasing alkaline phosphatases (PAL), aspartate and lactate transaminase (AST and ALT) activities, total and direct bilirubin, triglycerides (TG), cholesterol, creatinine, urea and iron levels in diabetic rats. Moreover, the plasmatic non-enzymatic antioxidant level of HDL-cholesterol, magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca) and copper (Cu) increased after 1 ␣ ,25(OH)2VD3 administration. The administration of 1 ␣ ,25(OH)2VD3 in diabetic rats protects against alloxan-induced histological changes in pancreas. Conclusion: from these data, it is concluded that 1 ␣ ,25(OH)2VD3 might be useful for the therapy and prevention of diabetes and the numerous side effects especially toxicity in liver, pancreas and kidneys and this protective effect is more obvious in our preventive experiment.

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