RESUMO
Diabetes and its relevant complications have been increasing each year. Oral hypoglycemic agents can temporarily control blood sugar within a normal range, but with serious side effects on multiple systems and no significant efficacy on diabetic complications. Polysaccharide, as a natural drug with various activities, has become a hotspot in recent years, because of its safety, efficacy and low toxicity. More and more researches for the relations between polysaccharides and diabetes have demonstrated that polysaccharides have the advantages of a high safety and low toxicity in treating diabetes. In addition, some polysaccharides may show an effect in alleviating diabetic complications. This paper summarizes recent researches on the hypoglycemic mechanism of polysaccharides. Polysaccharides could protect islet β cell, increase the number of islet cells, promote insulin secretion or release, increase insulin sensitivity, improve insulin resistance and improve glucose metabolism. And polysaccharides can be used in alleviating diabetes-related kidney, eye and foot disease. This report proposes shortcomings for the extraction, activity research and multi-target effects of polysaccharides for diabetes treatment. In addition, this report reviews how polysaccharides affect diabetes and complications, so as provide a scientific reference for the hypoglycemic effect of polysaccharides.