CHAPTER 1

NATURE AND BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Background of the study

The use of alternative or herbal medicine has continuously

increased over the past years. Traditional herbal medicines are

naturally occurring, plant-derived substances with minimal or no

industrial processing that have been used to treat illness within

local or regional healing practices. An herbal medicine is usually

from an herb. An herb is a plant or plant part used for its scent,

flavor, or therapeutic properties. There are many different

"types" of herbal medicine that spring from different cultures

around the world. All these have the use of medicinal plants in

common, but they vary in the plants they use, the way they prepare

and use medicines from these plants, and the philosophy of their

treatment approaches. Different cultures may also use the same

plants but differ in how it is used, or the part they use. Examples

of herbal medicines are lagundi, oregano and ampalaya(bitter

gourd) that has many benefits in the human body. These plants will

be used by the researchers to make an herbal candy and to know the

preference of the elementary students among the different herbal

flavours in a candy.

According to World Health Organization, “Traditional medicine

is the knowledge, skills and practices based on theories, beliefs

and experiences indigenous to different cultures, used in

maintenance of health and in prevention, diagnosis, improvement of

treatment of physical or mental illness”. There are many different

systems of traditional medicine, and the philosophy and practices

of each are influenced by the prevailing conditions.

In this study the researchers will introduce the product;

“Herbal Candies” as a way to know the preferred herbal taste of

the elementary students of FEU Roosevelt. The researchers came up

with the idea of turning an herbal medicine into a candy because

most of the children dislikes the bitter taste of syrup medicines.

Most parents experienced having a hard time giving syrup medicines

to their children, for they always vomit when taking it. This have

lead the researchers to make a candy using four different flavors

which are lagundi, oregano and ampalaya.

According to Philippine Medicinal Plants, Lagundi is an

erect, branched tree or shrub, 2 to 5 meters high. It is widely

distributed in the Philippines. Lagundi leaves have been

traditionally used by rural folk to cure a wide variety of

illnesses such as headaches, and an effective cough/asthma

medication, while oregano is a culinary and medicinal herb from

the mint, or lamiaceae family. It has been used in medicine and

cooking for thousands of years. It adds flavours, and may have a

number of health benefits (Natalie Butler, RD). It rich in

antioxidants, could decrease inflammation and also an effective

cough medication. Amplaya (bitter gourd) is one of the famous

wonder vegetables. It has been extracted, packed in dietary pills

and powdered because of the several health benefits that it offers.

It can boost the immune system, an anti-cancer food, and good for

the heart and are great for eyesight. These benefits lead the

researchers to conduct the study.

 Theoretical/Conceptual Framework

Selected Participants of
Elementary Students of FEU
Roosevelt College Rodriguez
School Year 2019 - 2020

Lagundi Candy Ampalaya Candy Oregano Candy

Based on the topics relevance, the diagram above shows the

different types of herbal candy flavours that are to be taste

tested to the Selected Elementary Students FEU Roosevelt to

document on whichever taste they preferred best. The variables

suggested are the main flavours that the Elementary Students are

going to be taste testing.

 Statement of the Problem

This study aims to find out the preferred herbal candy taste

of the elementary students of FEU Roosevelt with three different

flavours, lagundi, oregano and ampalaya.

More specifically, it sought to find answers to the following:

1. What is the most preferred flavour of male elementary

students?

2. What is the most preferred flavour of female elementary

students?

Significance of the Study

This study will help us to know the preferred flavour of the

grade 6 elementary level students in drinking cough herbal

medicinal plants in form of candies and the effect of their

demographic variables to their preferred kind and flavour of herbal

candies. We are going to make three flavoured candies and it is

ampalaya, lagundi and oregano that are all common on treating cough

and through this study we can learn the different benefits of the

herbal candies can produce for ourselves and for the others. The

non-nutrition candies that are commonly eaten by children will be

lessened. It also can be suitable for our future’s generation food

frugality and in simply eating herbal candies the sugar that you

intake will be lessened.

 For the students, some students do not find medicine as

appealing to their taste. This study will give students an idea

that they can take medicine in a whole new level. With the herbal

candy, they can drink medicine with an ease of the flavour that

they find unpleasant.

For the parents, this study will be beneficial to the parents

for they will know what flavour is appealing to the taste of their

children. Having known the preferred flavour of the elementary

students will give parents’ an ease in making their children take

medicine.

For the future researchers: Future researchers, who wants to

conduct a research of the same topic, may use this research as a

reference or guide to their study.

Scope and Delimitations

This study focuses on producing an herbal candy to determine

the preferred herbal candy taste of the elementary students. This

study aims to help parents and children take an alternative way of

drinking medicine as easy as they can by producing an enjoyable

herbal candies made from oregano leaves, lagundi leaves and

ampalaya (bitter gourd).

This study involved thirty (30) grade 6 elementary students,

15 males and 15 females who are most likely hard to drink a

medicine. The proposed herbal candies was evaluated for two (2)

days.

Definition of terms

Demographic variable- Personal statistics that include information

such as gender and age.

Preference- a greater liking for one alternative over another or

others.

Herbal Medicine- is the study of botany and use of medicinal

plants. Plants have been the basis for medicinal treatments through

much of human history, and such traditional medicine is still

widely practiced today.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLE AND THE PREFERENCE

OF HERBAL CANDIES OF FEU ROOSEVLET SUDENTS

A Research Paper

Presented to

Mrs. Marife D, Baliwas, MA,Ed.

Faculty of FEU Roosevelt

Rodriguez, Rizal Campus

In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements

For the Course Practical Research 2

By:

Cocjin, Jeremy Ian Lazaro, Kyla Nicole

Collantes, Stephanny Kate Portugal, Blessie

Cruz, Leejay Santiago, Stephanie Marie

Guerrero, Scheele Umpad, Bernadette Jasmine

12-STEM B