Making Food to Prevent and Control Diabetes Mellitus Delivers FAS Students Get Silver and Bronze Medals

The prevalence of diabetes mellitus in Indonesia reaches 8.5% of the total population and is ranked fifth in the world with 19.5 million sufferers. The trigger factor is obesity due to excess calories which result in insulin resistance. As well as the diet of the Indonesian people who depend on rice with high sugar content.

This attracts the attention of students of the Faculty of Animal Science, Universitas Brawijaya (Fapet UB) to create food innovations to prevent and control diabetes mellitus. Prevention of diabetes mellitus is carried out by making healthy cereal based on fortified guava, tapioca flour, and cinnamon sauce. Product Named the Seregalmade by Rafi Safanda Nugraha (Fapet UB),Irma Widi Astuti (Fapet UB),Hilma Sajida Chulwa Hanin (Fapet UB),M. Yoshi (FMIPA UB), andRuzaina Darmawati (UB Film Science).

According to Irma, jAmbu seeds contain five times higher vitamin C than oranges, which is as much as 377 mg. So that in seregal can help prevent diabetes mellitus, because it contains pectin which is hypocholesterolemic which can lower cholesterol and blood glucose levels. In addition, cereal can also be used as a food to delay hunger because of its high carbohydrate content with low amylose and high amylopectin levels.

“The content of tapioca flour in cereals can help increase body weight, stabilize blood pressure, treat stomach acid, be healthy for the digestive system and maintain bone health.” she explained

 Meanwhile, for patients who have contracted this disease, it can be controlled by consuming purple analog noodles. Namely noodles made from porang flour (amorphophallus muelleri) and fortified genjer leaves which are low in calories and high in fiber because they contain glucomannan, flavonoids, polyphenols and cardenolin. These substances have antidiabetic and antioxidant properties so they can be used to control diabetes mellitus.

Purple analog noodles were created by a collaboration of UB and Gadjah Mada University (UGM) students, namely Irma Widi Astuti (Fapet UB) and Romi AL Fajar (Geodesic Engineering, UGM).

“This noodle is expected to be a functional food for controlling diabetes mellitus and obesity and a contributor to the food sector towards a better Indonesia.” said Irma

Both of these works won awards atNational Level Essay Competition (LETIN) 2023 organized by the Young Nusantara Institute in collaboration with Triatma Mulya University, Bali, Saturday (3/6/2023). The purple analog noodle team won a silver medal while the seregal team won a bronze medal.  

At the event, the UB delegation organizes students with high creativity to channel their innovations in supporting advanced Indonesian reach overall champion title with a total acquisition of 13 champions from all fields.(dta)