Development of Liquid-Based Tea and Its Antidiabetic Effect

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease resulting from insulin resistance which is now a growing concern. Tea from Camellia sinensis is a beverage consisting of many health benefits, one of which is its antidiabetic properties due to the presence of polyphenols. In this study, tea products made from bark extracts of Cinnamomum zeylanicum (cinnamon) and leaves of Artocarpus heterophyllus (Jak) were evaluated for their antidiabetic effects by testing for the polyphenol content, antioxidant content, and alpha-amylase inhibition activity. The product made from tea and Jak yielded the highest polyphenol content of 53.58 ± 0.12 gallic acid equivalent (GAE) mg/100 g of the raw material, while cinnamon tea yielded a polyphenol content of 22.69 ± 0.45 GAE mg/100 g. The half-maximum inhibitory concentration (IC50) value of 5.3915 mg/L was obtained for the Jak brew and 5.4935 mg/L for cinnamon ice tea demonstrating that cinnamon has better antioxidant capacity. The percentage inhibition of alpha-amylase showed 31.03 ± 0.29% at a concentration of 4 µg/mL of Jak tea and 13.27 ± 0.32% at a concentration of 17.5 µg/mL of cinnamon brew. The maximum yield of cinnamon polyphenols of 35.30 ± 1.10 GAE mg/100 g of the raw material was obtained under an extraction temperature of 75°C, extraction time of 30 minutes, and extraction ratio of 1 : 8 (cinnamon : water). This study suggests that cinnamon bark extracts and Jak leaves’ brew can be potentially useful for the control of diabetes mellitus, and the optimal conditions can be used as an indicator for scaled-up industrial production.