Amantagula Fruit (Carissa macrocarpa (Eckl.) A.DC.): Nutritional and Phytochemical Characterization

Abstract

Fruits are one of the most promising food matrices and they have been explored in the discovery of new natural and safer bioactive compounds. Carissa macrocarpa (Eckl.) A. DC. fruits are widely consumed in African countries for the preparation of traditional foodstuff, but also for their beneficially health effects. Thus, as the authors' best knowledge there are no studies on the chemical and bioactive characterization of these fruits. Therefore, fruits of C. macrocarpa from Tunisia were chemically characterized regarding their nutritional value and bioactive compounds. Furthermore, the hydroethanolic extract of these fruits was evaluated regarding its bioactive properties. The fruit powder sample showed high amounts of sugars and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). The organic acids and tocopherols' profiles revealed the presence of five organic acids and two tocopherol isoforms, being quinic acid and α-tocopherol the most abundant. The hydroethanolic extract of the fruits presented high antioxidant, cytotoxic, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial properties, showing activity against all the bacterial strains studied, also inhibiting the cell growth of all the tested tumor cell lines, with the exception of HepG2, and did not reveal toxicity for the non-tumor cells PLP2. Therefore, the fruits of C. macrocarpa could be included in a daily basis diet as a source of high nutritional quality compounds with high bioactive potential.

Nutritional composition, antioxidant assay and α-glucosidase inhibitory flavonoids from the fruits of Carissa edulis Vahl (Apocynaceae)

“…Crude fiber content measures the indigestible components such as cellulose and lignin contained in the fruits [29]. The ash content was found to be (0.52 %) which is similar to the earlier study reported by Souilem et al 2019 [31] concerning the fruits of Carissa macrocarpa that was reported to contain 0.5 % ash content. The ash content measures the amount of minerals available or contained in a fruit.…”

“…The ash content measures the amount of minerals available or contained in a fruit. The carbohydrate content (10.49 %) is lower than that of the Carissa macrocarpa (16.40 %) and Carissa spinarum (18.66 %) reported by Souilem et al (2019) [31] and Chauhan et al (2015) [32] respectively, meanwhile, the sugar content (17.50 g) was higher than that of Carissa macrocarpa [31]. The total solid content is 28.04 %, fat (0.3 %) which is lower than that of Carissa spinarum (1.30 %) reported by Chauhan et al 2015 [32].…”

“…[29]. The crude protein content was found to be 1.07 % which is higher than the earlier report on Carissa edulis (0.3 %) in Uganda [30] and Carissa macrocarpa (0.74 %) [31]. In another study, Chauhan et al 2015 [32] reported crude protein content of 2.07 %.…”

Phytochemical and Biological Studies of Carissa macrocarpa, F. Apocyanaceae

“…The plant also cultivated in Egypt El-Orman garden and grows as a shrub (3-4 m height). It is a spiny, evergreen latex containing shrub with yellowish white flowers and delicious red fruits [5,6]. In traditional medicine Carissa species used in the treatment of diarrhea and venereal diseases [5].…”

“…It is a spiny, evergreen latex containing shrub with yellowish white flowers and delicious red fruits [5,6]. In traditional medicine Carissa species used in the treatment of diarrhea and venereal diseases [5]. A large number of diverse chemical constituents having important economic and biological values were detected in Carissa species such as; sterols & triterpenes [7,8], anthraquinones, saponins, tannins, [9,10], cardiac glycosides [11,12] alkaloids [13].…”