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UP Diliman students produce natural ginger-calamansi concentrate for COVID-19 frontliners

By Patricia Isabella Romarate
Published April 3, 2020 5:18 PM PHT

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To help frontliners fight COVID-19 pandemic, these UP Diliman students developed Lucal! Find out more in this article:

Senior college students from the University of the Philippines Diliman formulated and produced a natural ginger-calamansi concentrate for the health workers who are still in the thick of their fight against the Coronavirus Disease 2019 or COVID-19.

This immunity-boosting drink called Lucal is rich in Vitamin C and has plenty of health benefits that came from its two main ingredients: ginger and calamansi.

Health benefits of Lucal
Health benefits of Lucal

Infographic by UPD BS Food Technology student, Vanessa Tangcuenco

Ginger has been known to: reduce muscle pain and soreness, lower blood sugar, anti-inflammatory, can treat nausea, and improve indigestion.

Meanwhile, the benefits of calamansi are: it prevents diabetes, it is rich in Vitamins A and C, boosts immunity, and controls cholesterol levels.

The geniuses behind Lucal are Meghan Sevilla and Sofia Tagle, 4th year BS Food Technology students from UP Diliman's College of Home Economics (CHE).

Sevilla and Tagle were able to achieve this product with the guidance of UP Food Science and Nutrition professors Abigail Rustia, Lotis Francisco, Blanca Villarino, and Bee Dumelod.

According to a news article from the UP website, “Because of the team's collective efforts, they were able to produce 40 bottles of Lucal, which is equivalent to 466 glasses of the vitamin C-enriched drink.”

These healthy drinks were distributed to the Philippine General Hospital and Lung Center of the Philippines. UP has also reported that the second batch of Lucal is in the works to be distributed to other hospitals as well.


If you wish to be part of GMA's efforts to help stop the spread of COVID-19, you may visit the Kapuso Foundation by logging on to https://www.gmanetwork.com/kapusofoundation/donate

Source: https://www.up.edu.ph/upd-food-tech-students-produce-ginger-calamansi-concentrate-for-pgh-and-lung-center-frontliners/?fbclid=IwAR0kO_rKsSeuwrBdT4YP8eSl7meQ5Hbri2bFc3gyzSpZQ_GH-yK1OJymsIU