## 1 Introduction
### Antidiabetic and Anti-Obesity Properties
#### 1.2.2 Antidiabetic and Anti-Obesity Properties of Salvia Extracts--In Vivo Methods  
In vivo models also support the hypothesis that _Salvia_ phenolic-rich extracts have anti-obesity and antidiabetic properties (Table 4). Among them, it was demonstrated that treatment via gastric intubation of high fat diet rats with methanolic extracts of _S. trilobia_ (750 mg/kg body wt) [92], or the dietary supplementation of olive oil-loaded mice with a methanolic extract of _S. officinalis_ leaves (doses of 500 and 1000 mg/kg) for 14 days [91], suppressed serum triglyceride increases. Notably, in this latter study, the authors also attested that carnosic acid (10 mg/kg) significantly inhibited triglyceride elevation in olive oil-loaded mice [91]. Along the same lines, the chronic intake of an aqueous extract of _Salvia libanotica_ (450 mg/kg bw in drinking water, for 6 weeks), improved the glycemia profile of rats fed with a high fat diet, causing a significant decrease in fasting serum glucose (1.7 times lower than the control), and also prevented high fat-induced dyslipidemia, by a significant improvement in serum HDL (1.3-fold that of the control) and the HDL/LDL cholesterol ratio (about 1.7 times over that of the control), as well as a decrease in abdominal fat [93]. Related to this, the work of [PERSON] and colleagues also underlined the antidiabetic potential of a methanolic extract of _S. officinalis_ in diabetic rats fed with 500 mg/kg bw extract for 21 days, significantly reducing postprandial blood glucose in a short-term period, similar to acarbose (20 mg/kg bw) [94]. In recent years there has been an increasing number of clinical trials aiming to test the anti-obesity and antidiabetic effects of sage (Table 4). Among them, distinct studies using _S. officinalis_ L. leaf extracts or tablets, demonstrated that the treatment of patients with hyperlipidemia and type-2 diabetes afforded a decrease in blood levels of triglycerides, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and postprandial glucose after 2 h, and increased the levels of HDL cholesterol [39; 95; 96; 97]. In particular, [PERSON] et al. [95] reported a significant decrease in total cholesterol levels and in 2 hours postprandial (2 hpp) glucose in a randomized clinical trial with 80 patients with type-2 diabetes that received _S. officinalis_ tablets (150 mg extract, 3 times a day for 3 months). In addition, the treatment of 40 type-2 diabetic patients with _S. officinalis_ leaf extract (one 500 mg capsule for 3 months) was shown to lower blood levels of fasting glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), total cholesterol, triglyceride and LDL, and simultaneously increase the HDL level, compared to the baseline at endpoint [96]. Moreover, in a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial with 67 hypercholesterolemia and/or hypertriglyceridemic patients, the administration of sage leaf extract with one 500 mg capsule every 8 h, for 2 months, significantly lowered the blood levels of total cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL and VLDL (very low density lipoprotein), and increased the blood HDL levels [97]. Likewise, [PERSON] et al. [98] reported the ability of a sage tea (_S. officinalis_) drinking in improving lipid profile, decreasing the total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels and increasing plasma HDL cholesterol levels during and two weeks after the treatment. These authors also evidenced that sage tea drinking improved human erythrocyte antioxidant status by significantly increasing SOD and CAT activities, thus ameliorating antioxidant defenses, which may indirectly improve the diabetic condition [98]. Overall, the data reported in the above-mentioned studies suggest that the regular consumption of _S. officinalis_ as tablets or tea can improve the lipid profile, inducing a decrease in highly atherogenic LDL cholesterol particles (which are easily oxidable and less readily cleared) and an increase in HDL cholesterol particles--contributing, therefore, positively to the control of dyslipidemia. The effect of _S.