Herbs as Modulators of Insulin Signaling

Rosemary is composed of various phenolics such as rosmarinic acid, the flavonoid hesperidin, and the terpenoids camosic acid, camasol, and rosmanol (Al-Sereiti et al. 1999). Rosemary is well known for antioxidant and antimicrobial activity (Naghibi et al. 2005). Multiple extracts and bioactive constituents of rosemary were evaluated for in vitro effect on human cancer cells (Yesil-Celiktas etal. 2010). These included human small cell lung, prostate, liver, breast, and myeloid leukemia, all rosemary extracts and finctionated compounds were toxic to the cell lines at low doses but camosic acid was most effective (Yesil-Celiktas et al. 2010). Bakirel etal. reported in 2007 that ethanol extracts of rosemary reduced blood glucose, and increased insulin levels of rabbits with induced diabetes. They also noted increased levels of the antioxidants SOD and CAT in these animals. 

Sage contains chlorogenic acid as well as many other phenolics and flavonoids seen in basil, oregano, and rosemary (Kintzios 2000). 

13 active components with the major compound present as cinnamal-dehyde (97% by volume). Other compounds extracted from cinnamon bark include terpenes such as 5-cadinene (0.9%), a-copaene (4.6%), and a-amorphene (0.5%) (Gopu et al. 2008 Singh et al. 2007). 

In vitro as well as in vivo studies show great potential for aqueous cinnamon extract to induce cellular apoptosis and inhibit tumor growth and progression. Cinnamaldehyde, a component of cinnamon extract (CE), has been shown to have antitumor activity towards human solid tumor cells in vitro (Dugoua et al. 2007). This bioactive component is noted for its ability to block cellular proliferation at the M phase of the cell cycle (Dugoua et al. 2007) of specific cancer lines such as breast, leukemia, ovarian, and lung tumor cells both in vitro and in vivo (Kop-pikar et al. 2010). It should be noted that cinnamaldehyde is required at higher concentrations than CE to inhibit the same amount of prolifera- 

Cinnamon and its functional effect against diabetes is perhaps the longest studied property of einnamon with the highest amount of re- 

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