NEWS

2024.01.19

【Report】The 63th AJI Frontier Seminar was “Harnessing Indonesia's Herbal Wisdom for Diabetes Therapy,” presented by Dr. Dinia Rizqi Dwijayanti

On Tuesday, January 9, the 63rd AJI Frontier Seminar was held online. This time, Dr. Dinia Rizqi Dwijayanti, M.Si., D.Sc., a senior researcher at the Biology Department, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Brawijaya University, Indonesia, presented an informative study entitled “Harnessing Indonesia's Herbal Wisdom for Diabetes Therapy.”

Dr. Dinia began by introducing Jamu, traditional Indonesian natural medicine, which is concocted from plant, animal, and mineral materials, and has been used for generations to treat various ailments by all levels of society. It was originally exclusive to royalty but became popular after it was introduced to the public. It developed as a cottage industry that was marketed by traders who carried bottles of the concoctions in baskets to the market. This grew into the Jamu industry and today many Jamu are mass-produced in factories.

In her recent research, Dr. Dinia has been investigating the beneficial effects of Jamu in the treatment of diabetes, an extremely debilitating disease caused by chronic inflammation of the pancreas that causes failure to produce insulin and results in an excess of blood sugar, which can be fatal if left untreated. The regular medical treatment prescribes insulin injections to replace the body’s lost insulin.

Dr. Dinia introduced some Jamu that have anti-diabetic effects, such as VIP albumin, a jamu made from snakehead fish extract, and another Jamu made from bitter melon that is widely known as an anti-diabetic and anti-obesity medicine. Through her clear diagrams and concise explanations, she demonstrated how the experiments conducted in her lab on obese mice have scientifically proved that these Jamu do indeed have anti-inflammatory and anti-diabetic effects.

During the Q&A session, questions were raised about the line between Jamu and regular pharmaceutical treatment, about whether there are specialists who practice natural medicine as in India and Africa, and about comparisons with natural medicines used in various countries such as Kampo in Japan. Dr. Dinia gave clear answers to these questions, and her explanations and illustrations were much appreciated by her audience.

Dr. Dinia delivering her presentation

Please visit the following link for previous AJI Frontier Seminars:
https://en.ritsumei.ac.jp/research/aji/young_researcher/seminar/archive/