Use of Herbal Products in Type 2 Diabetic Patients

Aim: Use of herbal products is relatively common among general\udpopulation. We aimed to study the use of herbal products for any\udreason in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM).\udMethods: A questionnaire containing objective questions was\udfilled for 120 type 2 diabetic patients. This form included sociodemographic\udcharacteristics, DM history, other comorbidities,\uddiabetic complications, details about the use of the herbal product\udand knowledge of the physician.\udResults: 60.8% of patients were female, 86.7% were married and\ud65% were primary school graduates. The mean age was 57.4±11.1\udyears 52.1% of patients used one or more herbal products after\uddiagnosis of DM, while 10% used before diagnosis. 48.4% of\udsubjects provided them from herb and spice sellers and 29% from\udgardens and vineyards. Only 6.5% of patients decided to use them\udon the advice of a health-care professional. 82.3% of subjects did\udnot inform their physician. There was no relationship of use of\udherbal products, its frequency, type of the product and advisor\udwith gender, marriage status and education status.\udConclusion: Use of complementary and alternative medicine\udamong diabetic patients is quite frequent and considering the\udlow rate of informing the physician, placing restriction on these\udproducts as well as education of patients is of prime importance.\ud(The Medical Bulletin of Haseki 2015; 53:214-9