A rationale for a study about Cadena de amor as a medicinal tea

Filipinos enjoy eating sugary foods occasionally as a part of a healthy balanced diet. However, Filipinos
intake too much free sugar wh enever they get the chance and by knowing sugar, it contains calories
with no added nutrients. And a sugar-heavy diet can damage one’s health in the long run that if
uncontrolled intake happens, it could lead to obesity, various heart ailments, and diabetes.

Diabetes is the 6th leading cause of death among Filipinos based on the data from the 2013 Philippine
Health Statistics, and over 6 million Filipinos are diagnosed to have diabetes, as declared by the
Philippine Center for Diabetes Education Foundation in 2016. The numbers of diabetes cases in the
Philippines from 2010 to 2017 increased from 3.4 million to 3.7 million. Diabetes is estimated to infect
20 to 79 year olds. Having type 2 diabetes leads cells to become resistant to the action of insulin
resulting to a build-up of extra sugar in your bloodstream that triggers rising of blood glucose level thus,
resulting to a serious damage to a wide range of a person's body organs and tissues and this includes
those that play a key role in maintaining healthy blood pressure. Associated with diabetes is
hyperglycemia that happens when the body lacks insulin or when the body can't use insulin properly.
Therefore, being left untreated could lead to serious health problems.

Research shows that Cadena de Amor (Antigonon leptopus) leaves reduce swelling, tea leaves are used
for diabetes, and its blossoms are used for high blood pressure or has a reaction to insulin in a good
way. The plant has also been wildly used as a medicinal herb in the Philippines as tea, tonics, remedies,
and an antiseptic. Therefore, with this project, the researchers plan to utilize the plant's leaves and
blooms as insulin tea. Furthermore, this is an inexpensive and a convenient process of making a new
discovery upon medication for not only high blood glucose but also as an additional contribution to
advancement of knowledge about the Cadena de Amor plant.