No abstract

No abstract

Ipomoea aquatica Forsk, a green leafy vegetable that is a rich source of vitamins and amino acids with many health benefits, has been explored for the isolation and identification of its bioactive compounds. Activity-guided repeated fractionation of a methanol extract on a silica gel column followed by an XAD column yielded a compound that exhibited antioxidant activity with an EC 50 value of 83 ± 1.02 µg ml −1 reaction mixture. It also showed very strong lipid peroxidation-inhibitory activity in a liposome model system with an EC 50 value of 72.2 ± 0.9 µg ml −1 . However, it showed negligible metal-chelating activity. Based on UV, 2D nuclear magnetic resonance and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry studies, the compound was tentatively identified to be 7-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-dihydroquercetin-3-O-α-D-glucopyranoside. This is the first report on the antioxidant properties of I aquatica leaf extracts.

Banana plant biomass waste, viz. pseudostem (BPS) and rhizome (BR), contribute 30.81 and 12.67 per cent respectively. A negligible percentage of these were used for fresh consumption, otherwise they are waste and incinerated. In order to utilize these bio-wastes in a bioactive perspective, nutritional and nutraceutical components were studied from the juices and its Ready-To-Serve (RTS) beverage. When compared to BPS juice, BR juice showed higher total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) of 341.44 mgGAE and 87.60 mgCE/200 μL, respectively, and concomitantly exhibited high antioxidant activity (AOA) in all the assays tested, viz. DPPH radical scavenging activity (82.93%), superoxide radical scavenging activity (49.45%), metal chelation activity (48.32%) total reducing power (0.846 OD at 700 nm) and total antioxidant capacity (928 mmol ascorbic acid equivalents). High quantity of polyphenols present in BR juice resulted high AOA. Strong positive correlations were observed between TPC and TFC of BPS and BR juice with AOA assays. Among the different concentrations of RTS beverages prepared, 25% BPS juice and 20% BR juice with 15°brix TSS and 0.3% acidity were adjudged as best by sensory panelists. Thus, BPS and BR juice can be effectively used to produce new generation functional beverages.