Disclosed herein are a leaf and stem extract of Aster koraiensis, a root extract of Aster koraiensis, a flower extract of Aster koraiensis, a pharmaceutical composition for the prevention or treatment of diabetic complications, a health
functional food for the improvement of diabetic complications, and a pharmaceutical composition and health
functional food for the prevention or
delay of aging, in which each of the compositions and the foods contain, as an
active ingredient, at least one of the Aster koraiensis extracts. Each of the extracts is obtained by
drying and finely
cutting each of the leaf and stem part, root and flower of Aster koraiensis, extracting the
cut plant with
alcohol or
aqueous alcohol solution, filtering the extracted solution and concentrating the filtrate under reduced pressure. Also disclosed are a pharmaceutical composition for the prevention or treatment of diabetic complications, a health
functional food for the improvement of diabetic complications, and a pharmaceutical composition and health functional food for the prevention or
delay of aging, which contain, as an
active ingredient, at least one of fractions obtained by fractionating each of the Aster koraiensis extracts in the order of
hexane,
ethyl acetate, n-
butanol and water fractions. The leaf and stem extract of Aster koraiensis, the root extract of Aster koraiensis and the flower extract of Aster koraiensis have the effect of inhibiting the production of
advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs), the causes of diabetic complications, and effectively inhibit
aldose reductase (AR) activity. Thus, the disclosed extracts will be highly useful for the prevention or treatment of diabetic complications and the prevention of aging.