Herbal extracts and traditional remedies are being extensively used by patients with chronic illnesses worldwide. However, some surveys have shown that patients usually treat antidiabetic herbal extracts as mere supplements in the sense that they do not adjust or stop their regular drug regimens on their account. Furthermore, the side effects of these herbs and their interactions with other drugs go unreported because patients usually feel ashamed to tell their physicians about their use, or because they think herbs are all benign. Moreover, the unfortunate truth is that most of the herbal extracts with reported antidiabetic or antihyperglycemic properties have not been studied when administered concomitantly with metformin or with other less commonly used antidiabetic agents, or with those drugs which diabetes patients might also take for heart or nerve complications or with drugs which male patients might use in advanced stages to overcome their diabetes-caused impotence. Could anyone shed a light on how to study possible herb-drug interactions right? I am interested in this sort of research for a PhD in the future.