The antioxidant activity of lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) essential oil (LBEO) on 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals and its hypoglycaemic effect in db/db mice were investigated. LBEO scavenged 97 % of DPPH radicals at a 270-fold dilution. Mice administered LBEO (0.015 mg/d) for 6 weeks showed significantly reduced blood glucose (65 %; P < 0.05) and TAG concentrations, improved glucose tolerance, as assessed by an oral glucose tolerance test, and significantly higher serum insulin levels, compared with the control group. The hypoglycaemic mechanism of LBEO was further explored via gene and protein expression analyses using RT-PCR and Western blotting, respectively. Among all glucose metabolism-related genes studied, hepatic glucokinase and GLUT4, as well as adipocyte GLUT4, PPAR-gamma, PPAR-alpha and SREBP-1c expression, were significantly up-regulated, whereas glucose-6-phosphatase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase expression was down-regulated in the livers of the LBEO group. The results further suggest that LBEO administered at low concentrations is an efficient hypoglycaemic agent, probably due to enhanced glucose uptake and metabolism in the liver and adipose tissue and the inhibition of gluconeogenesis in the liver.

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Our data suggest that ERS feeding may have hypoglycemic and hypocholesterolemic effects via a mechanism similar to that of dietary fiber.

Glycemic Index (GI) of six common rice varieties in the local markets of Bangladesh was assessed and categorized in this study to investigate manipulative varietal performance for the time being. After overnight fasting, each of ten selected healthy non-diabetic volunteers (males and females in ratio of 1:1) was fed with reference food (50 g glucose) and test foods (50 g carbohydrate-containing different rice varieties) in every two days intervals. After feeding, glucose levels (mmol/l) were measured at 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 90 and 120 minutes. Incremental Area Under Curve (IAUC) of reference food and test food (avoiding the area beneath the baseline of reference food) was calculated to measure GI values. Amylose content (%) of different test foods was measured from the standard curve obtained from the spectrophotometric analysis after alcoholic-alkaline gelatinization that was followed by acidification and iodine mixing. The result showed that the GI values were 59.

The pot experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of chitosan on the morphological, biochemical parameters of four Mungbean varieties (BARI Mung3, BARI Mung6, BINA Mung5 and BINA Mung8) under salinity condition. Each pot having eight kilograms of soil was prepared to grow three plants of each variety. The experiment comprised with four different conditions in triplicates viz. control, saline (40 mM NaCl, 25 days after sowing- DAS), saline plus chitosan (25 ppm chitosan, 30DAS on saline condition) and chitosan (25 ppm chitosan on control condition). Seed collections followed by data analysis were done. Proline content was measured accordingly. Salinity caused reduction in all growth and yield contributing attributes compared to control groups of all four varieties. Proline accumulation was enhanced due to saline condition, and this accumulation was not enhanced by application of chitosan. However, application of chitosan played as an outstanding stimulating role in all morphological parameters like number of flowers plant-1, number of pods plant-1, number of seeds pod-1 and thousand seeds weight under salinity stress.Res. Agric., Livest. Fish.3(1): 45-51, April 2016