Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I am very interested to work on type II diabetes and worked thru the letarature alot. So, I started working on how to slow down the alpha amylase breakdown by using natural inhibitors like fenugreek that found to have bioactive compounds like Trigonelline,
Diosgenin, 4-Hydroxyisoleucine that helps with the inhibition of digestive enzymes like amylase and glucosidase. I started with simple experiment with amylase, starch solution, feenugreek solution ( crude extracted by soaking whole grains over night) and iodine solution....some how im not able to show the process that if the solution has feenugreek extract it should take longer to digest. Please help with the last step.
Please let me know if you need more information
Thank you!!

Your topic is really interesting, and you’re approaching it in a thoughtful way by focusing on natural enzyme inhibitors related to type II diabetes. If you’re not seeing a clear delay in starch breakdown, the issue may be with how the inhibition is being measured rather than the concept itself. You may need to ensure consistent concentrations of amylase and starch, as well as sufficient incubation time for the fenugreek extract to interact with the enzyme before adding iodine. Additionally, using a control without fenugreek and measuring the color change at fixed time intervals could help make differences more visible. Please let me know if you’d like help refining the procedure or adjusting variables to better demonstrate the effect.