Background

• Costus is from the Costaceae family, a group of tropical herblike plants. Costus is used in Guinean, Brazilian, and Trinidadian traditional medicine for various uses, as well as in the Dominican Republic and parts of the United States for diabetes.
• Although several Costus species have a history of use, human studies showing the safety or efficacy of Costus species are lacking.
• Note: The focus of this monograph is Costus spp. and not the herb with the common name costus

References

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2. Bavarva, J. H. and Narasimhacharya, A. V. Antihyperglycemic and hypolipidemic effects of Costus speciosus in alloxan induced diabetic rats. Phytother.Res 2008;22(5):620-626. View Abstract
3. Devi, V. D. and Urooj, A. Hypoglycemic potential of Morus indica. L and Costus igneus. Nak.--a preliminary study. Indian J Exp.Biol. 2008;46(8):614-616. View Abstract
4. Eliza, J., Daisy, P., Ignacimuthu, S., and Duraipandiyan, V. Antidiabetic and antilipidemic effect of eremanthin from Costus speciosus (Koen.)Sm., in STZ-induced diabetic rats. Chem Biol.Interact. 11-10-2009;182(1):67-72. View Abstract
5. Eliza, J., Daisy, P., Ignacimuthu, S., and Duraipandiyan, V. Normo-glycemic and hypolipidemic effect of costunolide isolated from Costus speciosus (Koen ex. Retz.)Sm. in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Chem Biol.Interact. 5-15-2009;179(2-3):329-334. View Abstract
6. Gireesh, G., Thomas, S. K., Joseph, B., and Paulose, C. S. Antihyperglycemic and insulin secretory activity of Costus pictus leaf extract in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats and in in vitro pancreatic islet culture. J Ethnopharmacol. 6-25-2009;123(3):470-474. View Abstract
7. Keller, A. C., Vandebroek, I., Liu, Y., Balick, M. J., Kronenberg, F., Kennelly, E. J., and Brillantes, A. M. Costus spicatus tea failed to improve diabetic progression in C57BLKS/J db/db mice, a model of type 2 diabetes mellitus. J Ethnopharmacol. 1-21-2009;121(2):248-254. View Abstract
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10. Mosihuzzaman, M., Nahar, N., Ali, L., Rokeya, B., Khan, A. K., Nur-E-Alam, and Nandi, R. P. Hypoglycemic effects of three plants from eastern Himalayan belt. Diabetes Res 1994;26(3):127-138. View Abstract
11. Owolabi, O. J., Omogbai, E. K., and Falodun, A. Oxytocic effects of the aqueous leaf extract of Costus lucanusianus - family Costaceae on isolated non-pregnant rat uterus. Pak.J Pharm.Sci. 2010;23(2):207-211. View Abstract
12. Quintans Junior, L. J., Santana, M. T., Melo, M. S., de Sousa, D. P., Santos, I. S., Siqueira, R. S., Lima, T. C., Silveira, G. O., Antoniolli, A. R., Ribeiro, L. A., and Santos, M. R. Antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory effects of Costus spicatus in experimental animals. Pharm.Biol. 2010;48(10):1097-1102. View Abstract
13. Shetty, A. J., Choudhury, D., Rejeesh, Nair, V., Kuruvilla, M., and Kotian, S. Effect of the insulin plant (Costus igneus) leaves on dexamethasone-induced hyperglycemia. Int.J Ayurveda.Res 2010;1(2):100-102. View Abstract
14. Shilpa, K., Sangeetha, K. N., Muthusamy, V. S., Sujatha, S., and Lakshmi, B. S. Probing key targets in insulin signaling and adipogenesis using a methanolic extract of Costus pictus and its bioactive molecule, methyl tetracosanoate. Biotechnol.Lett. 2009;31(12):1837-1841. View Abstract
15. Vijayalakshmi, M. A. and Sarada, N. C. Screening of Costus speciosus extracts for antioxidant activity. Fitoterapia 2008;79(3):197-198. View Abstract