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| The team of UMM in the Student Creativity Program, who creates anti-diabetic candy. (Photo: Istimewa) |
Diabetes is one of the world’s most deadly diseases. However, its treatment in the community is limited to sugar intake limitation and insulin injection. Considering that matters, a team of the University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM) created a jelly candy as a preventive measure to avoid diabetes, especially in a group of children.
Fortunately, the idea outlined in the Student Creativity Program has managed to pass and is funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of Indonesia. On the other hand, the team consists of Food and Technology Science students at UMM.
The team leader, Diah Ayu Rosita, says that this jelly candy is made from the basic ingredients of zerumbone extract in lempuyang with xylitol bagasse. The choice of this ingredient is inseparable from the reality that the content of lempuyang has benefits that can be an alternative for blood sugar control.
“Mainly, this ingredient is easily available and traded in the market at an affordable price. So all groups can easily find and utilize it," the student said.
The student, known as Herlina, explains that people are only asked to limit sugar intake to anticipate diabetes. Additionally, they should do insulin injections. Still, it costs much, so those with low financial cannot fulfill their body’s health,” she added.
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Hingga saat ini, PKM-RE ini sudah masuk ke tahap pengesktrakan tumbuhan lempuyang wangi dan fermentasi xylitol. Ia mengaku, timnya cukup kesusahan mencari daftar referensi yang bagus dalam melakukan metode pembuatannya.
Until now, this PKM-RE project (Trans.: Student Creativity Program in the Category of Exact Research) has been included in extracting the lempuyang plant and xylitol fermentation stage.
“Yes, this jelly candy is still in research and development. But I believe that soon, the product can be produced and tasted,” said Herlina optimistically.
Last but not least, she and her team expect this innovative candy to change society’s perspectives on sweets, usually rated high in sugar. In addition, this product also aims to minimize the number of children who potentially get diabetes in young and even old age. (imh/ri/wil)
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