Studies on the antioxygenic activity of bitter gourd (Momordica charantia) and its fractions using various in vitro models.

BACKGROUND A study was undertaken to evaluate the antioxygenic activity of bitter gourd pulp and seed powders as well as their various solvent extracts using different methods and to minimise the oxidative deterioration of lipids by natural antioxidants. RESULTS Bitter gourd pulp and seed powders at 20 g kg(-1) and their ethanol/water extracts exhibited stronger antioxygenic activity than other solvent extracts. Bitter gourd pulp and its extracts showed slightly higher antioxygenic activity than bitter gourd seed and its extracts. This may be attributed to the presence of higher amounts of phenolics and flavonoids, which have been reported as potential antioxidants. The seed portion of bitter gourd contained higher levels of total protein (188.3 g kg(-1) ), total fat (238.9 g kg(-1) ) and crude fibre (350.2 g kg(-1) ) than the pulp portion. Fatty acid analysis of bitter gourd seed oil indicated the presence of α-eleostearic acid, an isomer of conjugated linolenic acid, as a major fatty acid, but this acid was absent in the pulp. CONCLUSION The results of this study confirmed the presence of antioxygenic compounds in both bitter gourd pulp and seed. In particular, their ethanol/water extracts showed great potential as natural antioxidants to inhibit lipid peroxidation in foods.

[1]  C. Adams,et al.  Biologically important thiols in aqueous extracts of spices and evaluation of their in vitro antioxidant properties. , 2010 .

[2]  N. Pellegrini,et al.  Direct measurement of the total antioxidant capacity of cereal products , 2008 .

[3]  P. Negi,et al.  Antioxidant and antimutagenic activities of Cinnamomum zeylanicum fruit extracts , 2007 .

[4]  B. Klejdus,et al.  Determination of phenolic compounds and their antioxidant activity in fruits and cereals. , 2007, Talanta.

[5]  A. Urooj,et al.  Evaluation of antioxidant activity of some plant extracts and their application in biscuits , 2005 .

[6]  K. Al-Ismail,et al.  Antioxidant activity of alcohol extracts of chamomile flowers, anise seeds and dill seeds in two vegetable oils and two animal fats , 2004 .

[7]  Z. Jastrzebski,et al.  Bioactive compounds and antioxidant potential in fresh and dried Jaffa® sweeties, a new kind of citrus fruit , 2004 .

[8]  J. S. Roberts,et al.  Microwave heating of apple mash to improve juice yield and quality , 2004 .

[9]  K. Becker,et al.  Antioxidant properties of various solvent extracts of total phenolic constituents from three different agroclimatic origins of drumstick tree (Moringa oleifera Lam.) leaves. , 2003, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry.

[10]  R. Singh,et al.  Antioxidant activity of grape seed (Vitis vinifera) extracts on peroxidation models in vitro , 2001 .

[11]  K Walton,et al.  The application of in vitro data in the derivation of the acceptable daily intake of food additives. , 1999, Food and chemical toxicology : an international journal published for the British Industrial Biological Research Association.

[12]  S. S. Arya,et al.  Pro- or antioxygenic activity of tejpat (Cinnamomum tamala) and red chilli (Capsicum annum) in sunflower oil , 1999 .

[13]  W. Ternes,et al.  Evaluation of antioxidative constituents from thyme , 1996 .

[14]  H. Kappus,et al.  Toxikologie der synthetischen Antioxidantien BHA und BHT im Vergleich mit dem natürlichen Antioxidans Vitamin E , 1993 .

[15]  J. Bond,et al.  The effects of butylated hydroxyanisole and butylated hydroxytoluene on renal function in the rat. II. Effects on organic acid and base transport. , 1980, Food and cosmetics toxicology.

[16]  S. Petrović,et al.  Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of antioxidant fractions from selected Lamiaceae herbs and their antioxidant capacity , 2010 .

[17]  A. S. Bawa,et al.  Star-anise (Illicium verum) and black caraway (Carum nigrum) as natural antioxidants , 2007 .

[18]  A. Bonanni,et al.  Evaluation of the antioxidant and prooxidant properties of several commercial dry spices by different analytical methods , 2007 .

[19]  A. Wojdyło,et al.  Antioxidant activity and phenolic compounds in 32 selected herbs , 2007 .

[20]  M. Özcan.  Antioxidant activities of rosemary, sage, and sumac extracts and their combinations on stability of natural peanut oil. , 2003 .

[21]  D. Peterson,et al.  Phenolic Antioxidants and Antioxidant Activity in Pearling Fractions of Oat Groats , 2001 .