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Amid the epidemic of diabetes sweeping through Canada's aboriginal people, a few Cree in northern Quebec have reputedly found life-altering help from an intriguing source.

Patients have staved off the imminent amputation of their legs -- a common result of the disease -- after being successfully treated with pine cones, pitcher plants and other traditional medicines, it is said.

However, such accounts are for the most part anecdotal and unsubstantiated.

But a surprising new scientific study has lifted Cree natural health care beyond the realm of mere legend with the finding that several plant extracts used for centuries -- but mostly forgotten these days -- effectively combat diabetes, at least at the cellular level.

Scientists hope the folk medicines -- assuming their benefits are confirmed in further studies -- could be used to help treat the aboriginal scourge of diabetes and replace the pharmaceuticals many natives are reluctant to use. That reluctance has led to a higher mortality rate from the illness.

One day it might even be possible to sell the extracts to a wider market, researchers and Cree leaders say.

"I was happily surprised [by the results]," said Pierre Haddad, the University of Montreal pharmacologist who is heading the research.

"We underestimate the power and the value of this traditional knowledge," he said. "I had to face a lot of skepticism from my colleagues in the pharmacology department when I started this. The thing is, I didn't compromise on the scientific rigour, which is what saved me, I guess."

His team identified eight plants that, according to Cree elders, can treat a number of the symptoms that are typical of diabetes, from frequent urination to increased thirst and foot numbness. Then the scientists analyzed the plants' biological effects in laboratory experiments.

Diabetes develops when the insulin produced by the body fails to adequately regulate glucose levels.

None of the plants improved insulin production or secretion, but they all essentially enhanced the effectiveness of the insulin that was generated. Some were as potent or more so than drugs designed to have the same effect, Dr. Haddad said.

Three extracts stood out: the pitcher plant, the leaves of the Labrador tea plant and black spruce cones. The plants are usually made into a kind of tea.

The team is now conducting animal studies, feeding mice a "McDonald's diet" high in fat and sugars to induce the effects of diabetes, then seeing how the different extracts affect the symptoms.

The researchers also plan observational studies, looking at people who are already being treated with the traditional cures, Dr. Haddad said. The ultimate goal is to run a controlled, blinded trial in which new patients are given either a plant extract or a placebo -- though creating a placebo that looks and tastes like the real thing will be a challenge, he admitted.

If their benefits are proven with human subjects, the researchers would try to process the extracts in a way that would allow the dosage to be controlled.