Oil Palm Leaf: A New Functional Food Ingredient for Health and Disease Prevention

Abstract

The Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) leaves has 8% higher total polyphenols content than green tea extract and contains epigallocatechin, catechin, epicatechin, epigallocatechin gallate, epicatechin gallate amongst their various flavonoids glucosides. The health benefits of OPLE on breast cancer, diabetes, hypertension, inflammation, oxidative stress, neurodegeneration, cognitive functions, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular, liver, kidney and neuroprotective properties and hypercholesterol are reviewed. The OPLE have good vasodilative, phytoestrogenic and bone mass enhancing properties, valuable for postmenopausal women. The OPLE helped modulate the antioxidative defence enzymes and reduce blood Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) by up-regulating the LDL receptors ex vivo. The safety and acute toxicity of OPLE showed a no adverse effect dose at 2 g/kg. Sub-chronic daily supplement of 500 mg/kg body weight (bw) for 3 months in rodents showed no significant adverse effects. The catechin-rich OPLE on its own at 500 mg/kg body weight/day was not toxic to normal rodents under subchronic continuous consumption for 3 months and was shown to be safe for humans at 1 g/day for prolonged periods.

Adsorption and Desorption Properties of Total Flavonoids from Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) Mature Leaf on Macroporous Adsorption Resins

“…The adsorption process was conducted over 24 h at 25 • C. The experiment was carried out on OPL extract solutions of different pH (5, 7, and 9; adjusted with 1 M HCl or 1 M NaOH), in triplicate. At 0, 5,10,15,20,25,30,40,50,60,120,180,240,300,360,480, and 1440 min time points, 0.125-mL aliquots of the treated OPL extract were withdrawn for TFC determination. The adsorption kinetics equation for each resin was accordingly established for each.…”

“…Multiple interactions between the flavonoids and cross-linked polymeric XAD7HP resin through van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonding described the sorption processes. Therefore, by utilizing this method, the flavonoid-enriched fraction from crude OPL extract could be used as a potential bioactive ingredient in nutraceutical and pharmaceutical applications at minimum cost with optimum efficiency.Molecules 2020, 25, 778 2 of 17 shown to be safe for use in disease treatments based on the absence of adverse effects in several studies on rodents [5,6].Previous chemical investigations revealed that OPL extract is rich in flavonoids, mainly flavonoid O-glycosides and flavonoid C-glycosides [7]. As a class of compounds, flavonoids are well known to have positive effects on human health with reports of being hepatoprotective, antioxidative, and antidiabetic, among others [8].…”

“…Molecules 2020, 25, 778 2 of 17 shown to be safe for use in disease treatments based on the absence of adverse effects in several studies on rodents [5,6].…”

ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITIES OF Elaeis guineensis LEAVES

“…The extract is reported to be incorporated into daily diet for improving cardiovascular system. Later, Mohamed et al (2014) reported that oil palm leaf has 8% higher total phenols content than green tea extract and contains epigallocatechin, catechin, epicatechin and epigallocatechin gallate. She reviewed the health benefits of oil palm leaf extract on breast cancer, diabetes, hypertension, inflammation, oxidative stress, neurodegeneration, cognitive functions, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular, liver, kidney and neuroprotective properties.…”

Statistical Modelling of Ultrasonic-Aided Extraction of <i>Elaeis guineensis</i> Leaves for Better-Quality Yield and Total Phenolic Content

“…In fact, oil palm leaves (OPL) make up the largest portion amounting to 53% dry weight of the total biomass [7]. As far as applicability of OPL is concerned, it is limited as ruminant feed and food flavoring agents [8]. Therefore, utilizing the cellulosic materials in OPL can improve agriculture sustainability while reducing the quantity of this biomass [9].…”