It is well documented that dayak onions possess a multitude of beneficial properties. One of the benefits of dayak onions is their ability to treat diabetes mellitus. The benefits of dayak onions for diabetes mellitus have been demonstrated by research conducted by Maria DPT Gunawan Puteri and colleagues from the Biosciences Division at Hokkaido University in Japan.
Maria identified three active compounds in dayak onions: eleutherol, eleutherinoside A, and eleuthoside B. Eleutherine is an antioxidant compound with antibacterial, anticancer, and free radical-fighting properties.
The results of the Eleutherine americana inhibition activity test demonstrated that the most active compound, eleutherinoside A, exhibited the greatest inhibitory effect on alpha-glucosidase, with an IC50 value of 0.5 mm, which is equivalent to a dose of 5 mg per 50 grams of sample. This indicates that a dose of 5 mg, which is half of the sample, was inhibited.
Alpha-glucosidase, located on the surface of the intestinal cell membrane, catalyzes the hydrolysis of starch and disaccharides into glucose. Inhibition of alpha-glucosidase activity will disrupt glucose absorption in the body, resulting in reduced blood sugar levels.
It is necessary to ascertain the safety of consuming members of the Iridaceae family. Armiin Stefani, a researcher at the School of Pharmacy at the Bandung Institute of Technology, conducted an acute toxicity test on dayak onion extract using mice as the test subjects.
The results of the toxicity test indicated that the LD50 value, or the dose that causes 50% mortality in test animals, was above 3.6 grams per kilogram of body weight. This indicates that if the patient has a body weight of 60 kg, consumption of 216 grams of dayak onion extract per day is still safe.
