BackgroundNatural food products have been used for combating human diseases for thousands of years. Naturally occurring flavonoids including flavones, flavonols, flavanones, flavonols, isoflavones and anthocyanidins have been proposed as effective supplements for management and prevention of diabetes and its long-term complications based on in vitro and animal models.AimTo summarize the roles of dietary flavonoids in diabetes management and their molecular mechanisms.FindingsTremendous studies have found that flavonoids originated from foods could improve glucose metabolism, lipid profile, regulating the hormones and enzymes in human body, further protecting human being from diseases like obesity, diabetes and their complications.ConclusionIn the current review, we summarize recent progress in understanding the biological action, mechanism and therapeutic potential of the dietary flavonoids and its subsequent clinical outcomes in the field of drug discovery in management of diabetes mellitus.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) has become a major public health threat across the globe. Current antidiabetic therapies are based on synthetic drugs that very often have side effects. It has been widely acknowledged that diet plays an important role in the management of diabetes. Phenolic acids are widely found in daily foods such as fruits, vegetables, cereals, legumes, and wine and they provide biological, medicinal, and health properties. Simple phenolic acids have been shown to increase glucose uptake and glycogen synthesis, improve glucose and lipid profiles of certain diseases (obesity, cardiovascular diseases, DM, and its complication). The current review is an attempt to list out the antidiabetic effects of simple phenolic acids from medicinal plants and botanical foods.