A B S T R A C TBackground and Objectives: Diabetes mellitus is a common chronic disease worldwide. Although it is treated with a number of methods including diet therapy, hypoglycemic agents, insulin and some herbs, its' prevalence and complications are rapidly increasing. Chicory intybus has been used as a traditional diabetes treatment in Iran, Egypt, and other countries but there is a lack of convincing evidence on its effect. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of aqueous extract of chicory leaf on body weight, serum insulin, glucose and lipids in diabetic male Wistar rats. Materials and Methods:Forty male Wistar rats were divided into five groups. Four groups were given streptozotocin intraperitoneally to induce diabetes. Three of the diabetic groups received varying concentrations of chicory aqueous extract for three weeks (12, 25 and 50 mg /kg body weight). The forth diabetic group and the non-diabetic group received distilled water (diabetic and healthy control groups respectively). Fasting blood glucose, serum triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), LDL and HDL levels were measured after 3 weeks of treatment. Results:The results did not show any significant effects on fasting blood glucose (173.5±126, 154.5±100, 247.7±46, 170.7±150.8 mg/dL) and serum lipids; LDL(19.5±7.7, 26.4±6.7, 24.2±7.7,24.7±6.8 mg/dL), HDL(41±22.8, 41.2±12, 44.7±12.1, 40±4.6 mg/dL), TG (103.5±35, 80.4±53.8, 111±70, 94±8.9 mg/dL) and TC (76.2±27.3, 80.4±53.8, 77±18.4, 72.7±15 mg/dl) in Streptozotocin induced diabetic groups receiving 12, 25 and 50 mg/kg aqueous chicory extract and diabetic control groups respectively. Conclusions:Chicory leaf aqueous extract had no significant effects on serum glucose and lipids of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.Keywords: Diabetes, Chicory extracts, Blood glucose, Cholesterol, Triglyceride, Rat IntroductionDiabetes mellitus is a very common health problem of the world, in both developed and developing countries and is one of the leading causes of death worldwide (1) . It is estimated that the number of world diabetics will exceed to over 400 million by 2030 (2). Recent studies indicate that the prevalence of diabetes in Iran, and in other developed and developing countries is increasing (3-6). Diabetes results in severe complications including hyperlipidemia, neuropathy, nephropathy, retinopathy and cardiovascular disorders and therefore impose great economic costs to the families and countries (7,8). Diet therapy, exercise, pharmacotherapy and herbal medicines are strategies to treat diabetes mellitus. Herbs have been used for diabetes mellitus treatment in ancient Iran, China, Egypt and other countries (9, 10). Chicory intybus (Cichorium intybus L.), is a traditional herbal medicine, which belongs to the Asteraceae family with six species mostly in Europe and Asia (11) (29) and chicory root on blood glucose and lipids have been reported previously (28-30). However, the effects of aqueous extract of chicory leaf on weight, blood glucose and lipids need to be examined. This st...