‘당뇨 억제에 탁월’…고춧잎 전용 고추 개발

Diabetes is a growing problem in South Korea.
Thankfully there are some traditional foods that can help, like red pepper leaves.
And researchers say they’ve improved on this with a variety of red pepper they say is even more effective than diabetes drugs in bringing down blood sugar.
Lee Eun-jin reports.
The summer can at times be unbearably hot, but it’s also the season when food ingredients are abundant.
For many elderly Koreans, vegetables seasoned with red pepper leaves and pickled vegetables bring back nostalgic memories of their mother’s cooking.
One of the key ingredients… red pepper leaves… is known to help lower blood sugar levels.
Now, the Rural Development Administration has developed a new type of pepper designed to produce leaves that are even better at keeping blood sugar levels down.
This is the second version of the “Won-gi” pepper, which was first cultivated in 2008.
The pepper has since been cross-bred to triple its blood sugar suppressing effects.
“According to our analysis of blood sugar suppressing efficacy, diabetes drugs on the market show around 80 percent efficacy,… and the Won-gi 2 pepper extract shows 74-point-8 percent, which is not much lower than the actual drugs.”

The fruits of these Won-gi peppers don’t contain much of the blood sugar suppressing substance and can be eaten like normal peppers.
“We can cultivate both fruits… and functional leaves… so I feel it could help improve our profits.”

Results of the research on “Won-gi 2” pepper leaves
and suggestions for how to use the leaves as a food ingredient have recently been published in international academic journals.
Lee Eunjin, Arirang News.

#Red_Pepper_Leaves #Diabetes #Blood_Sugar

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2022-08-21, 12:00 (KST)