The genus Mentha includes more than 25 species namely Mentha arvensis, Mentha piperita, Mentha spicata, Mentha pulegium constituting essential oil enriched with monoterpenes namely menthone, carvone, menthol and pulgone as major phytoconstituents. Wild mint or corn mint (Mentha arvensis L.) in this genus and from Lamiaceae family was used for its antioxidant and antiglycation potential. It is a branched, strongly aromatic herb that stems up to 40 cm long with ascending terminal branches. Leaves are elliptic to oblong-ovate, 1.5 to 2 cm long, short-petioled, toothed margins, rounded or blunt tipped. The leaves of M. arvenisis L. are extensively used in traditional system for various medicinal purposes such as expectorant, inflammation of liver, diarrhea, bronchitis, cardiotonic, and skin diseases. The chemical composition of M. arvensis comprise of 1–2% oil containing menthone, menthol, isomenthone, limonene and alpha and beta pinenes respectively.
Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disease, characterized by alteration in the carbohydrate, protein and lipid metabolism. The incidence of diabetes mellitus is continuously increasing in the world. There are many therapeutic treatments available to treat diabetes such as, acarbose and metformin; however, synthetic drugs are generally not preferred because of their high cost and many side effects, hence, it is necessary to develop traditional and alternative medicine which is specially based on plants.
According to researches, Methanolic extract of M. arvensis L. leaves showed DPPH free radical scavenging activity and high antiglycation potential. Methanolic extract also showed remarkable inhibitory effects on α-amylase and α-glucosidase and significant inhibition of postprandial hyperglycemia in starch induced diabetic Wistar rats.
