Professor Hee-seon Lee (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Department of Bioenvironmental Chemistry) and Professor Dae-gi Kim (Medical School) have jointly developed a functional food made from compounds extracted from milsun that lowers blood glucose and can treat diabetes.

Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) announced that the research team, receiving 300 million won in government funding, carried out the research project ''Industrialization Research Project of Bio-Functional Materials for Diabetes Improvement Using milsun Extract' and succeeded in developing a prototype functional food for improving diabetes.

The research team conducted this project using milsun extract for three years from 2008 through last year as part of the High Value-Added Food Technology Development Program.

The research team explained that milsun extract not only has antioxidant effects that prevent aging, but also lowers blood glucose concentration and increases insulin levels, demonstrating high efficacy in treating diabetes.

The research team said, "Comparative experiments with currently marketed diabetes drugs have demonstrated the superiority of the bio-functional food," adding, "The technology will be transferred to a private company this fall and will be actively developed as a diabetes treatment."