Comparative Study of Health Properties and Nutritional Value of Durian, Mangosteen, and Snake Fruit:  Experiments In vitro and In vivo

Abstract

In vitro and in vivo studies of the health and nutritional properties of durian (Durio zibethinus Murr.) were compared with snake fruit (Salacca edulis Reinw.) and mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana). Dietary fibers, minerals, and trace metals were comparable. Total polyphenols (mg of GAE/100 g of FW) and flavonoids (85.1+/-6.1) were significantly higher (p<0.05) than in snake fruit (217.1+/-13.2 (mg of CE/100 g of FW)), durian (309.7+/-19.3 and 61.2+/-4.9), and mangosteen (190.3+/-12.1 and 54.1+/-3.8). Antioxidant activity (microM TE/100 g of FW) of durian measured by DPPH and ABTS assays (228.2+/-13.4 and 2016.3+/-81.1) was significantly higher (p<0.05) than in snake fruit (110.4+/-7.9 and 1507.5+/-70.1) and mangosteen (79.1+/-5.9 and 1268.6+/-62.3). HPLC/DAD analysis of durian (microg/100 g of FW) showed that quercetin (1214.23+/-116.7) was present at levels three times that of caffeic acid, and twice as high as p-coumaric and cinnamic acids. The correlation coefficients between the bioactive compounds of fruits and their antioxidant activities were high (R2=0.99). Male Wistar rats (25) were divided into five dietary groups: the control group was fed the basal diet (BD); in addition to BD, the cholesterol (Chol) group was supplemented with 1% of Chol; the diets of the Chol/Durian, Chol/Snake, and Chol/Mangosteen groups were supplemanted with 5% of these fruits, respectively. It was found that diets supplemented with durian, and to a lesser degree with snake fruit and mangosteen, significantly hindered the rise in plasma lipids and the decrease in antioxidant activity. The nutritional values were comparably high. In conclusion, it could be suggested that inclusion of studied tropical fruits, especially durian, in known disease-preventing diets could be beneficial.

Antioxidant properties and bioactive constituents of some rare exotic Thai fruits and comparison with conventional fruits

“…The contents of flavanols (μg CE/g DW, Table 4) for water extracts were in the range from 67.05 to 2.11 for durian, avocado, mango, snake fruit, mangosteen and kiwifruit, respectively (P b 0.05). These results are in agreement with our previous published data ( Arancibia-Avila et al, 2008;Haruenkit et al, 2007;Toledo et al, 2008) and other cited reports (Seeram, 2008), where some tropical fruits and among them mangosteen were investigated for phenolic phytochemicals such as, anthocyanins, flavonols, flavanols, proanthocyanidins, ellagitannins, gallotannins, xanthones, and coumarins. The contents of anthocyanins (mg CGE/g DW, Table 4) for water extracts were in range from 17.12 to 2.51 for all 6 investigated fruits, respectively (P b 0.05).…”

“…The potassium/magnesium ratio for snake fruit was 21.10 and for kiwifruit: 20.16; and the magnesium/ calcium ratio for snake fruit was 2.76 and for kiwifruit 0.50. The obtained present results on minerals and microelements in the new harvest of the investigated fruits (Table 2) are in agreement with our previous data on the same fruits which were collected two years ago (Gorinstein et al, 2010;Haruenkit et al, 2007;Haruenkit et al, 2010;Poovarodom et al, 2010). As was found in this investigation, the content of the minerals in the studied fruits vary significantly (P b 0.05).…”

The multiple nutrition properties of some exotic fruits: Biological activity and active metabolites

“…The qualities of persimmon, hawthorn and apricot were close to those of the dry fruits and showed high DPPH radical-scavenging activity (Ishiwata, Yamaguchi, Takamura, & Matoba, 2004;Park, Jung, Kang, Delgado-Licon, Ayala, et al, 2006). The consumption of new exotic fruits has significantly increased (Corral-Aguayo, Yahia, Carrillo-Lopez, & Gonzalez-Aguilar, 2008;Haruenkit, Poovarodom, Leontowicz, et al, 2007;Haruenkit, Poovarodom, Vearasilp, et al, 2010;Luximon-Ramma et al, 2003). Among these fruits durian (Durio zibethinus Murr.)…”

Methods of measurement and evaluation of natural antioxidant capacity/activity (IUPAC Technical Report)

“…A good correlation between the contents of total polyphenols and antioxidant activities was registered (R 2 range of 0.9841-0.9859). The antioxidant activities (as determined by all used assays) of exotic fruits were in the following order: all cultivars of durian > snake fruit > mangosteen [131][132][133].…”