The telang flower (Clitoria ternatea) has recently become increasingly popular in Indonesia as a flower that offers many health benefits. It is getting easier to find telang flower tea served or as a snack in restaurants. Telang flowers, fresh or dried, are now sold relatively more. The increasing popularity of telang flowers, many people plant these plants in their yards for the needs of one family.
The striped flower scientifically known as Clitoria ternatea has a distinctive bright blue color. The blue color of the Telang flower indicates the presence of anthocyanins [1, 2, 3]. The anthocyanin content of telang flowers amounted to 227.42 mg / kg [4, 5]. This plant has different names in each region in Indonesia and it is said that the telang flower is known as the blue flower or clitoris in the Sumatra area. In Java, the flower telang is called kembang teleng or menteleng. While in Sulawesi it is called talang flower or temen raleng flower, and also called bisi or seyamagule in Maluku [6].
Telang flowers have been used in the food sector of several countries, such as traditional medicine in Kerala, India, vegetables in the Philippines, glutinous rice dye in Malaysia, and herbal drinks in Thailand [7]. Telang flower teacontains catechins that play an important role in burning belly fat and losing weight. Drinking this tea is an effective way to speed up metabolism so as to make the body burn more fat. Striped flowers are herbs that actively lower excess cholesterol in the blood called hyperlipidemia.
Many people want an ideal body, but there are also people who are overweight or often called obese or overweight. Obesity or overweight is a plague that is very feared by members of the Military District Commander 0734 Yogyakarta City, because someone whose weight has exceeded the normal limit or overweight will do everything possible to lose weight, where the Yogyakarta Military District Commander 0734 does physical exercise / exercise every week with the aim of maintaining a healthy body condition, especially to achieve ideal body weight according to Military National Indonesian standards.
Obesity is a condition where the body accumulates a lot of fat, caused by more calories than burned. If left untreated, obesity can increase the risk of heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes. Obesity can occur at a young age as well as at an old age. The causes of obesity are very complex in the sense that obesity is caused by many factors such as environmental, genetic, psychological, health, drugs, development and physical activity. The cause of obesity is multi-factorial, and food intake as one of many factors.
The survey results show that in the Yogyakarta City Military District Command, body mass index (BMI) and cholesterol are rarely measured, so there is no information about how many members of the Yogyakarta City Military Command are classified as obese and have cholesterol levels exceeding normal, and how to overcome them either through exercise or herbal drinks that can be used to lose weight or fat, However, physical activity in the form of exercise has not been measured, so the results have not been seen. This is very different from when they were still in the battalion unit, where they did physical activity in the form of exercise almost every day so that the weight of Military National Indonesian members remained well controlled.
Cholesterol is an important structural component that makes up cell membranes and the outer layer of plasma lipoproteins. Cholesterol can be free cholesterol or combined with long-chain fatty acids such as ester cholesterol. Cholesterol esters are a storage form of cholesterol found in most tissues of the body. Cholesterol also plays an important role as a precursor to many steroid compounds such as corticosteroids, sex hormones, bile acids and vitamin D [8, 9].
Cholesterol is also used by the body for the formation of cell membranes, producing sex hormones and the formation of bile acids that the body needs as digesters of food. However, excessive cholesterol levels cause problems, especially in the blood vessels of the heart and brain. Cholesterol is produced in two types, namely HDL and LDL cholesterol. Not only is cholesterol an important part of the cell wall, but it is also important in the production of certain hormones. For most people, 70–75% of blood cholesterol is produced in the liver, the remaining 25–30% comes from the food we consume [10]. In scientific terms, cholesterol is a fatty alcohol compound such as those found on cell walls, yellowish in color, has a wax-like shape produced by the body, especially in the liver and transported in blood plasma. Cholesterol is a group of compounds called sterols, which are a combination of steroids and alcohol [11].
There are many ways that people can do to get the desired weight, one of which is to consume drinking herbs from various plants. Plants have been known as medicinal sources for a long time, and with the development of increasingly modern human skills, extracts of chemical compounds from plants can be taken for treatment. Medicinal plants are often used as safer alternative medicine, which is back to nature by using plants as traditional medicine for weight loss, namely telang flower tea (Clitoria ternatea). Telang flower tea is made by heating or steaming to prevent enzymatic oxidation of catechins in the leaves of the eagle flower. The benefits of tea are to treat cancer, heart disease, tooth decay, bone health, diabetes, anti-inflammatory, and to prevent obesity. Telang flower tea is a medicinal herb with pharmacological effects, including weight loss and cholesterol.
Over time, many companies produce slimming drugs that help to lose weight quickly. This slimming drug can be obtained in all pharmacies, even without a prescription can be sold freely to anyone. Most slimming drugs can indeed help you lose weight quickly, but most users can experience side effects. Many people today rely more on alternative medicine to lose weight naturally, accompanied by regular exercise to accelerate weight loss gradually.
In addition to using telang flower tea and regulating diet, exercise is also very beneficial for weight loss programs or diets. By losing weight through exercise, the body can feel fresher, besides that the immune system also increases when balanced with exercise, such as cardio exercises to lose weight gradually.
The benefits that can be obtained by the body when doing physical activity or exercise is an increase in aerobic capacity which is a reference to whether a person's fitness level is good or not, must use the correct exercise rules, namely FITT (Frequency, Intensity, Type and Time). Frequency is defined as the number of repetitions of an exercise in a certain period of time, for example 3–5 times a week, in an exercise program can be more than 5 times a week even up to 10 times, one day can do 2 training sessions, namely morning and evening. But non-athletes can use this rule 3 times a week, just to improve and maintain physical fitness. Intensity is an exercise dose given as a measure of the level of difficulty of an activity, which can be measured from the level of fatigue that appears, whether easily tired or not. Intensity is taken as a percentage of the maximum pulse rate, depending on exercise and exercise. The maximum pulse rate can be determined using the 220-age formula, while the minimum intensity we can use to benefit from exercise and exercise is 60–85% of the maximum pulse rate.
The type of exercise or exercise carried out has an effect on improving the quality of our fitness. We can do several different exercises simultaneously to improve fitness. The choice of the type of exercise is determined by the desire of the person who exercises, fitness conditions and adequate facilities to perform that type of exercise or sport, from the energy system can choose aerobic or anaerobic exercise. Training or exercising time must have a clear duration so that our body fitness can increase. The time of exercise or exercise also depends on the goal, usually done for 60–120 minutes, so fat burning is more effective because the exercise time is longer.
The results of observations and interviews with the staff’s chief of the military district 0734 Yogyakarta City, it is known that 50 members of the Military District Commander 0734 have overweight or obesity (judging from body posture), and based on the results of discussions between researchers and the staff’s chief of the military district 0734 Yogyakarta City, it is desirable that there will be research using herbal ingredients in the form of telang flower tea (Clitoria ternatea) to be used as a weight loss drink and cholesterol, so that later it can be cultivated by every member of the Yogyakarta City Military Command.
Therefore, a study was conducted to determine the difference in the effect of the frequency of drinking telang flower tea with additional aerobic exercise on weight loss and cholesterol, in members of the Military District Commander 0734 Yogyakarta City.
Aims
The purpose of this study was to know and determine the difference effect of the frequency of tea drinks (Clitoria ternatea) accompanied by aerobic exercise on Body Mass Index and cholesterol.