Systematic review of hypoglycemic polysaccharides: sources, preparation, and identification techniques, evaluation models, structure–activity relationships, and mechanistic insights

The rising prevalence of diabetes presents a considerable challenge to global public health security. Although hypoglycemic drugs have clear effects, they can cause serious complications, such as liver and kidney dysfunction and hypoglycemia. Natural active polysaccharides are active substances that relieve diabetes and have no toxic or side effects, thus attracting substantial interest. The constitutive relationship and mechanism of hypoglycemic polysaccharides have been extensively explored but remain unclear. Furthermore, their sources, preparation, and identification have not been reviewed, and models for evaluating hypoglycemic polysaccharides have not been assessed. This paper presents a comprehensive introduction to the sources and preparation and identification methods for hypoglycemic polysaccharides and a systematic summary of the evaluation model of hypoglycemic polysaccharide activity for the first time. Furthermore, the active mechanism and structure-activity relationship of hypoglycemic polysaccharides were discussed. Finally, a possible future direction for research into hypoglycemic polysaccharides was proposed. This paper provides a theoretical basis for the research, development, and application of natural hypoglycemic polysaccharides.