Limnophila aromatica is commonly used as a spice and a medicinal herb in Southeast Asia. In this study, water and various concentrations (50%, 75%, and 100%) of methanol, ethanol, and acetone in water were used as solvent in the extraction of L. aromatica. The antioxidant activity, total phenolic content, and total flavonoid content of the freeze-dried L. aromatica extracts were investigated using various in vitro assays. The extract obtained by 100% ethanol showed the highest total antioxidant activity, reducing power and DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging activity. The same extract also exhibited the highest phenolic content (40.5 mg gallic acid equivalent/g of defatted L. aromatica) and the highest flavonoid content (31.11 mg quercetin equivalent/g of defatted L. aromatica). The highest extraction yield was obtained by using 50% aqueous acetone. These results indicate that L. aromatica can be used in dietary applications with a potential to reduce oxidative stress.

This work reports the isolation of protein from defatted cashew nut shell (CNS), with the crude protein product containing 91.07% protein. Under its natural conditions, the solubility of this protein isolate is comparable (74.02%) to that of mustard green meal protein. The solubility of the protein isolate decreases with decreasing pH, with the minimum solubility observed at its isoelectric point (pH 3). The water holding capacity, oil holding capacity, foaming capacity, foam stability, emulsifying capacity and emulsion stability were found to be 2.56 cm 3 H 2 O/g protein, 4.28 cm 3 oil/g protein, 76.88%, 70.98%, 62.0% and 79.0%, respectively. The profiles of these functional properties were determined with varying pH values and NaCl concentrations, and improved properties were observed in the alkaline pH range and in the presence of NaCl. Electrophoretic analysis showed that the high molecular weight protein globulin was the major protein in the protein isolate.

No abstract

No abstract