Hyperlipidemia Can Be Prevented with Kepel Fruit

Caption: by Alfian Novanda Yosanto, together with Rozynesti Odelia Arissaputri and Naufal Arif at the UII FK Integrated Laboratory to test their research. (Photo: Wibowo).

Kaliurang (UII News) Hyperlipidemia is a condition in which a person's blood contains high levels of fat (cholesterol and triglycerides). Currently, many people are consuming unhealthy foods and lack physical activity. Data from WHO states that hyperlipidemia causes 2,6 million deaths and 29,7 million disabilities in the world. Hyperlipidemia is also a risk factor for cardiovascular disease such as coronary heart disease, stroke and others.

This was revealed by the UII Faculty of Medicine student research team chaired by Alfian Novanda Yosanto, together with Rozynesti Odelia Arissaputri and Naufal Arif through the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education's Student Creativity Program (PKM) by developing Si Kepel drink as a solution to prevent hyperlipidemia, on Thursday, 16 Shawwal 1440H/20 June 2019 in the Dean Room of the Faculty of Medicine Universitas Islam Indonesia, Jalan Kaliurang Km.14,5 Sleman Yogyakarta.

According to the lead researcher, Alfian, stated that this research was motivated by concerns over the condition of public health problems, namely cardiovascular disease which is increasing and is the number one cause of death in Indonesia. Besides that, blood fat-lowering drugs besides being expensive, also have some side effects.

"Indonesia, with its richness and biodiversity, has great potential in dealing with this problem. One of them is the Kepel fruit which is widely found in Yogyakarta and has not been used properly. Kepel fruit contains antioxidants which have potential in treating hyperlipidemia," said Alfian.

Alfian further explained that Si Kepel drink stands for Sinbiotic and Kepel fruit. Si Kepel contains prebiotics, probiotics namely Lactobacillus casei, Lactobascillus plantarum and Kepel fruit (Stelechocarpus burahol).

"Through experiments on rats (Rattus norvegiccus) which were given a high-fat diet, the Si Kepel formulation was proven to significantly prevent the occurrence of hyperlipidemia. In the group of mice that were given a high-fat diet and Si Kepel had lower levels of triglycerides, LDL and total cholesterol than the group of mice that were not given Si Kepel," he added.

Meanwhile as the supervising lecturer doctor Nur Aisyah Jamil, M.Sc who also serves as Deputy Dean for Student Affairs, Alumni and Religion of FK UII, welcomed the findings of the FK UII students. He said that in the future further studies were needed to see the effectiveness of Si Kepel in humans, so that its benefits could be felt by the wider community, he said. Wibowo