Nutritive Values and Antioxidant Activity of <i>Citrullus lanatus</i> Fruit Extract

Abstract

Citrullus lanatus (Watermelon) is a fruit cultivated and consumed in Africa for its essential nutrients which are very beneficial to the human body. The present study was designed to evaluate the nutritive contents, free radical scavenging activities and phytochemical components of C. lanatus fruit. The extract of the fruit was subjected to in vitro antioxidant assessment using 1,1-diphenylpicryl-hydrazyl radical (DPPH) and hydrogen peroxide radical scavenging assays. The proximate and phytochemical analyses were conducted using standard procedures. The results of this study showed that C. lanatus fruit had very high moisture content and its crude protein, crude fat, crude fibre and ash content were all in traceable amounts. The sugar content was considerably high in comparison with other nutritive contents. Lycopene and β-carotene contents of C. lanatusfruit were estimated to be 4537.83 and 308.71 µg/100g respectively. The gross energy evaluation showed a value of 0.335 Kcal/g. The fruit extract exhibited significant (p < 0.05) DPPH (IC50 of 0.10 mg/ml) and hydrogen peroxide radicals scavenging activity (IC50 of 0.62 mg/ml) in comparison with the positive control butylated hydroxytoluene (BTH). This study therefore recommends that C. lanatus fruit could be an excellent source of antioxidants which may prevent diseases whose pathogenesis involves oxidative stress.

Antioxidant, antibacterial properties and the light barrier assessment of raw and purified melanins isolated from Citrullus lanatus (watermelon) seeds

“…Even though critical damage to oxidatively stressed cells may result from the reaction of crucial cellular constituents with ROS, an efficient antioxidant may protect the cells by scavenging other oxidizing radicals such as the peroxyl radical, and by interacting with molecular oxygen [35]. There are reports about the antioxidant activity of C. lanatus seeds extracts, and the potency of antioxidant power depends on the type of extract [1][2][3][4]10]. According to Rahman et al n-hexane extract from C. lanatus seeds exhibit the highest antioxidant activity [10].…”

“…The fruit is used in cooling, strengthening, as an aphrodisiac and astringent to the bowels, indigestible, expectorant, diuretic, and a stomachic as well as a blood purifier. It also allays thirst, cures biliousness, sore eyes, scabies and itches [1,4,9,10,13].…”

“…The vegetable crops of family Cucurbitaceae are important in horticulture, mostly grown for their sweet and juicy fruit in warm climates all over the world. Cucurbitaceae are an important source of food, like: pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo), melon (Cucumis melo), cucumber (Cucumis sativa), watermelon (Citrullus lanatus), bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria) and sponge gourd (Luffa cylindrica) [1][2][3][4]. The Citrullus lanatus L. is one of the most popular species, with high water content, which can be as high as 92% of total weight, found in most parts of Africa, Asia, United States and Russia [5].…”

Phenolic and antioxidant evaluation of the aqueous and ethanol extracts of unripe <i>Citrus reticulata</i> peels

“…Phenolics possess diverse biological activities, such as antiulcer, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-tumour and antidepressant activities (Mamta et al, 2013). Various studies have reported that flavonoids possess potent and appreciable antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticancer activities (Adetutu et al, 2015;Oyedapo et al, 2015). The flavonoid content of aqueous and ethanol extracts of unripe C. reticulata peels are quite high when compared to methanol extract of ripe C. reticulata peels (0.3 mg QE/g of extract powder) as reported by Kamran et al (2009).…”

Comparative analysis of the chemical compositions of indigenous watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) seeds from two districts in Limpopo Province, South Africa

“…Capricorn landraces had high flavonoid content (0.222 mg/g) than Sekhukhune varieties (0.130 mg/g). Adetutu et al (2015) reported 0.05 mg/g of flavonoids in watermelon seeds. In contrast, henna, pomegranate and soybean seeds reportedly contain 1.10, 6.79 and 0.580 mg/g, respectively (Cherbi et al, 2016;Elfalleh et al, 2012;Josipovic et al, 2016).…”