Nutritional Characteristics and Some Bioactive Components Contents of Sophorae fructus

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine the possibility of using Sophorae fructus as natural health food source. To accomplish this purpose, the contents of general and antioxidative nutrients of Sophora fructus were measured. The contents of carbohydrate, crude protein, crude lipid and ash are 75.9%, 16.4%, 2.41%, and 5.2%, respectively, while the calories of Sophora fructus was 337.3 kcal. Total dietary fiber was 15.07% of total carbohydrates. The percentages of water soluble dietary fiber to insoluble dietary fiber were 1.09% and 10.36%, respectively. The protein was composed of a total of 18 different kinds of amino acids. The contents of essential and non-essential amino acids were 2,310.91 mg and 5,218.52 mg. The K was the largest mineral followed by Ca, P and Mg, which means Sophorae fructus is alkali material. The contents of saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids were 24.94%, 32.40%, and 32.86%, respectively. Therefore, the amount of the total unsaturated fatty acid was higher than that of any other plant. The content of vitamin C in Sophorae fructus was higher than that of any other plant, which suggests that it could increase blood elasticity. The content of rutin, which is responsible for capillary vessel permeability, was 1.78%. The contents of water soluble antioxidative materials in 1 mL of water-extracted Sophorae fructus were 4.95 μg which is comparable to 1,560.96 mmol of vitamin C in antioxidant effect. The general nutrients and other antioxidatant bioactive materials in Sophorae fructus were also potential materials for good health food. It is expected that a follow up study on Sophorae fructus through developing processed food and evaluation of their functional properties would provide useful information as a source of medicinal foods.