When you eat starchy foods (think cake, bread, or cookies), your body breaks them down in stages. After alpha-amylase starts the job, maltase-glucoamylase steps in to finish it—by cleaving maltose and other short glucose chains into single glucose molecules that get absorbed into your bloodstream.a
This enzyme is like the final gatekeeper before sugar hits your system.
Docking Score: –5.0 kcal/mol
This indicates stable and favorable binding between cinnamaldehyde and the enzyme’s active site.
To the left is the 3D molecular docking result:
Cinnamaldehyde (light blue) is shown binding to maltase-glucoamylase (yellow ribbon), demonstrating its direct interaction with this sugar-releasing enzyme.
Binding Mode:
Cinnamaldehyde was observed to dock within a key pocket of the enzyme’s catalytic domain, potentially hindering substrate access and slightly slowing down glucose liberation.
Conclusion:
This suggests that cinnamaldehyde may act as a mild inhibitor of maltase-glucoamylase, delaying the final step of carbohydrate digestion—and thus reducing the speed at which glucose floods your bloodstream.
Software: AutoDock Vina
Scoring Function: Affinity-based (lower = better binding)
Best Mode Affinity: –5.0 kcal/mol
RMSD lower bound: 0.0
Citation:
Trott, O., & Olson, A. J. (2010). AutoDock Vina: Improving the speed and accuracy of docking. J Comput Chem, 31(2), 455–461.
