Background: There is a rising burden of Diabetes mellitus globally, and it has thus become a disease of concern. People, especially in poor communities, have, over the years, used medicinal plants to treat diabetes and its complications. Aframomum melegueta (AM), commonly known as grains of paradise, is a medicinal plant celebrated for its rich phytochemical content and therapeutic properties. Much work has been done to find scientific evidence to support the use of medicinal plants, thus AM has been investigated for its hypoglycemic effects in Streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes in Wistar albino rats. 
Objective: To evaluate the antidiabetic activity of the ethanolic extract of the seeds of Aframomum melegueta in STZ-induced type-I diabetes in rats.
Materials and Methods: STZ-induced type-I diabetic rats (n = 5) were administered ethanolic seed extract (250 and 500 mg/kg, p.o.) of AM or vehicle (normal saline) or standard drug glimepiride (0.1 mg/kg) for 21 days. Blood samples were collected from the tail veins and were analyzed for serum glucose on days 0 and 21 by using glucose oxidase-peroxidase reactive strips and a glucometer. For the oral glucose tolerance test, glucose (2 g/kg, p.o.) was administered to nondiabetic control rats and the rats treated with glimepiride (0.1 mg/kg, p.o.) and ethanolic seed extract of AM (250 and 500 mg/kg). The serum glucose levels were analyzed at 0, 30, 60, and 120 min after drug administration. The effect of the extract on the body weight of the diabetic rats was also observed.
Results: The ethanolic seed extract of AM (250 and 500 mg/kg, p.o.) induced a significant reduction (p < 0.05) of fasting blood glucose levels in STZ-induced type-I diabetic rats on day 21. In the oral glucose tolerance test, the extract increased the glucose tolerance and caused an increase in the body weight of the diabetic rats.
Conclusion: There is sufficient evidence that Aframomum melegueta has significant antidiabetic activity as it lowers the fasting blood sugar level and increases body weight in diabetic rats, as well as increases the glucose tolerance in glucose-loaded normal rats.