Medicinal properties of Morus alba for the control of type 2 diabetes mellitus: a systematic review

<strong>Background:</strong> the objective of this review was to evaluate the medicinal potential of <em>Morus alba</em> leaves on the control of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (DM2). Research question: what is the medicinal potential of <em>Morus alba</em> leaves in the control of DM2? <strong>Methods:</strong> It was based on the PRISMA Declaration. The included studies were extracted from Scopus, Pubmed, ScienceDirect, Scielo, and Google Scholar; January 2015 to July 2021, Key search terms were MeSH and DeCS: <em>Morus alba</em>, mulberry, hypoglycemic agent. The inclusion criteria were: studies in rats administered <em>Morus alba</em> leaf extracts; studies that included the dimensions of lipidemia and glycemia; studies that included indicators such as fasting glucose, postprandial glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin, triglycerides, low-density lipoproteins, total cholesterol, and insulin resistance. Exclusion criteria: studies in which <em>Morus alba</em> leaves were administered with other plants; studies with other parts of the <em>Morus alba</em> plant; proteomic studies, cancer, duplicate studies, in vitro studies, and evaluation of included studies. All included investigations were evaluated for biases. <strong>Results:</strong> The extracts of <em>Morus alba</em> leaves at the phytochemical level improve glucose uptake. Chlorogenic acid, isoquercitrin, and quercitrin, present in the leaves of <em>Morus alba</em> have hypoglycemic properties and an ameliorating effect on diabetic nephropathy. This leaf has pharmacological effects such as glucose absorption, insulin secretion production, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent, antihyperglycemic and antihyperlipidemic activities, and obesity management. <strong>Conclusions:</strong> <em>Morus alba</em> leaves have pharmacological effects on DM2 that include glucose absorption, production of insulin secretion, antioxidant agent, antihyperglycemic and antihyperlipidemic activities, and obesity control. Beyond these results, there is a lack of studies on the potential and synergistic effects of the components of <em>Morus alba</em> leaves, which limit the possibility of a more effective therapy using the leaves of the plant.