Roasted coffee can do more than just wake you up in the morning.
Scientists from the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, have discovered several new coffee compounds that inhibit α-glucosidase, a key enzyme linked to type 2 diabetes.
Some of these coffee-derived molecules were even more powerful than a common anti-diabetic drug. The study also introduced a faster, greener way to discover health-promoting compounds in complex foods.
The compounds were found to strongly inhibit α-glucosidase, an enzyme that plays a central role in breaking down carbohydrates during digestion.
Because this enzyme directly affects how quickly sugars enter the bloodstream, the discovery points to possible new functional food ingredients aimed at managing type 2 diabetes.
The discovery was made using more advanced analytical methods: nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).
After the complex tests, it was analyzed that although the three caffaldehydes differed in their fatty acid components (palmitic acid, stearic acid and arachidic acid), they all showed remarkable inhibition of α-glucosidase.
They indicated stronger activity than the comparator drug acarbose.
It was discovered that these molecules, although sharing similar fragment patterns, contained different fatty acids (magaric acid, octadecenoic acid and nonadecanoic acid).
Searches of existing substance databases confirmed that these substances had not been previously reported.
This could lead to new opportunities to develop coffee-based functional foods or nutraceuticals that support glucose regulation and can help manage diabetes.
