Analytical Tools Used to Distinguish Chemical Profiles of Plants Widely Consumed as Infusions and Dietary Supplements: Artichoke, Milk Thistle, and Borututu

Abstract

Artichoke, borututu and milk thistle are three medicinal plants widely consumed as infusions or included in dietary supplements (e.g., pills and syrups). Despite their high consumption, studies on nutritional value and primary metabolites are scarce, being only reported the composition in secondary metabolites such as phenolic compounds.Therefore, their nutritional value was assessed and analytical tools (liquid and gas chromatography coupled to different detectors) were used to distinguish the chemical profiles namely in hydrophilic (sugars and organic acids) and lipophilic (fatty acids and tocopherols) compounds. Chromatographic techniques are important analytical tools used in the identification and quantification of several molecules, also being a standard requirement to distinguish different profiles. Borututu gave the highest energetic value with the highest content of carbohydrates and fat, sucrose and total sugars, shikimic and citric acids, α-, β-, δ-and total tocopherols. Artichoke had the highest ash and protein contents, oxalic acid, SFA (mainly palmitic acid acid), and γ-tocopherol, as also the best

Effects of gamma radiation on chemical and antioxidant properties, anti-hepatocellular carcinoma activity and hepatotoxicity of borututu

“…In agreement with Pereira et al (2014a), in the present study the four vitamers of tocopherol were found in the borututu samples, with the prevalence of β-tocopherol (Table 2), but the highest total tocopherols content was obtained for the irradiated samples irradiated (both with 1 kGy and 10 kGy with 331.97 mg/100 g and 336.72 mg/100 g, respectively). With the exception of δ-tocopherol, the amount of the different isoforms was generally higher in the irradiated samples.…”

“…With respect to organic acids (Table 3), it was possible to verify that the irradiation did not significantly affect these compounds in borututu samples, which showed the presence of oxalic, malic, shikimic, citric and fumaric acids in similar amounts, with higher oxalic, malic and citric acids content, similarly to what was observed in the previous work referred above (Pereira et al, 2014a). The preservation of organic acids is of great interest once they are related to plant foods organoleptic properties, namely their flavor, aromatic properties or consistence.…”

“…Regarding free sugars, and also in concordance with Pereira et al (2014a), fructose and sucrose were the most abundant molecules. As observed in Table 3, 1 kGy (sample 1) was not enough to preserve sugars content, where it was verified a decrease of fructose, glucose, sucrose, and trehalose.…”

“…Regarding to fatty acids ( (Pereira et al, 2014a). Among the three samples, sample irradiated at 1 kGy gave lower percentage of PUFA (32.75%) and SFA (43.32%), while control and sample irradiated at 10 kGy revealed quite similar amounts.…”

Hydroxybenzoic Acids Are Significant Contributors to the Antioxidant Effect of Borututu Bark, Cochlospermum angolensis Welw. ex Oliv

“…With the recent emergence of borututu bark as a new antioxidant herbal beverage and dietary supplement [1,6,18] and due to the scarcity of phytochemical investigation of this plant, the goal of this study was to utilize high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and an activity-guided approach to determine the most active constituents of borututu bark in a 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free-radical scavenging assay. A qualitative HPLC method was developed for (i) fingerprinting borututu crude and commercial products; (ii) determining the major phytochemical markers of the bark; and (iii) verifying the purity of isolated compounds.…”