Pharmacognosy and Pharmacopoeial Standards for Syzygium cumini

Natural bioactive compounds play an important role in the development of new drugs. Among a large number of herbal drugs stated to possess antidiabetic activity, Syzygium cumini finds a prominent place in the Ayurveda as well as the Unani system of medicine. The quality control parameters include foreign material, extractive values, and ash values of the dried raw herbal drug. The fruits of S. cumini have been used the world over for a broad variety of ailments, including cough, diabetes, dysentery, and inflammation. The seeds of S. cumini are sweet, are astringent to bowels, have a diuretic property, stop urinary discharge, and are considered good for diabetes. In the many recognized systems of medicine like Ayurveda, it is already mentioned in the herbal remediation for a number of human ailments having various pharmacological activities, such as antidiarrheal, astringent, digestive, antibacterial, antioxidant, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, and radioprotective, but the most important activity is antidiabetic.