-Amylaseand -Glucosidase Inhibitory Activities of Selected Herbs and Their Synergistic Effects with Acarbose for Primary Health Care as Flatulence Inhibitory Treatments

Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disease usually caused by defects in insulin secretion that is characterized by hyperglycemia. One therapeutic approach for decreasing the concentration of glucose in the blood is to inhibit carbohydrate digesting enzymes; a -amylase and a -glucosidase, in the gastrointestinal tract. The aim of this work was to evaluate 13 species of herbs in primary health care as flatulence inhibitory treatments against a -amylase and a -glucosidase (rat intestinal) activities as well as to evaluate their synergistic effect with acarbose, the synthetic drug for diabetic treatment. The 70 % methanolic extract of turmeric ( Curcuma longa L., CLR) exhibited the highest a -amylase and a -glucosidase inhibitory activities (maltase and sucrase) with IC 50 values of 4.21±0.25 0.21±0.04 and 1.54±0.08 mg/mL, respectively. Acarbose, based on a standard reference for a -amylase and a -glucosidase (maltase and sucrase) inhibitory activities, possessed IC 50 values of 5.10±0.43 1.77±0.21 and 3.36±0.39 mg/mL, respectively. In addition, the 70 % methanol extract of CLR showed most potent synergistic inhibitory effect with acarbose. Thus, the results from the study indicate that 70 % methanolic extracts of CLR could be further developed as an anti-hyperglycemic remedy for diabetic therapy. Keywords : herbs for primary health care ; a - amylase inhibition ; a -glucosidase inhibition ; synergistic inhibition