Affiliations 

  • 1 Human Health Research Laboratory, College of Food Science and Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China
  • 2 Hainan Tropical Ocean University, Sanya, China
  • 3 Institute of Agro-Products Processing Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China
  • 4 Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
J Food Biochem, 2021 Apr 04.
PMID: 33817806 DOI: 10.1111/jfbc.13686

Abstract

Natural compounds have tremendous potential to regulate glucose metabolism, but conventional methods for studying their bioactivities are usually labor intensive. Here, hypoglycemic properties in 22 selected food-derived compounds were examined using molecular docking. The results indicated that curcumin is an inhibitor of both α-glucosidase and dipeptidyl-peptidase 4 (DPP-4), which are important for glycemic control. These effects of curcumin were also confirmed by enzymatic determination in vitro. Furthermore, curcumin significantly improved diet-induced hyperglycemia (e.g., fasting plasma glucose levels and glycogen storage in muscle or liver) in mice. This might be attributed to its inhibitory effects on the activities of α-glucosidase and DPP-4 in vivo. Curcumin also upregulated the expression of genes (e.g., glucagon-like peptide 1) related to DPP-4 activity in the small intestine. In conclusion, curcumin is a potential ingredient of functional foods used for diet-induced hyperglycemia management. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Curcumin has been widely used as a colorant in the food industry. Moreover, a growing number of studies have described its diverse biological functions, such as anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and anti-angiogenic activities. Thus, curcumin is regarded as a potential ingredient in functional foods. Our results highlighted the hyperglycemic effect of curcumin, suggesting that curcumin may be included in food products for hyperglycemic patients.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.