Mango ginger (Curcuma amada Roxb.) – A promising spice for phytochemicals and biological activities

Abstract

Mango ginger (Curcuma amada Roxb.) is a unique spice having morphological resemblance with ginger but imparts a raw mango flavour. The main use of mango ginger rhizome is in the manufacture of pickles and culinary preparations. Ayurveda and Unani medicinal systems have given much importance to mango ginger as an appetizer, alexteric, antipyretic, aphrodisiac, diuretic, emollient, expectorant and laxative and to cure biliousness, itching, skin diseases, bronchitis, asthma, hiccough and inflammation due to injuries. The biological activities of mango ginger include antioxidant activity, antibacterial activity, antifungal activity, anti-inflammatory activity, platelet aggregation inhibitory activity, cytotoxicity, antiallergic activity, hypotriglyceridemic activity, brine-shrimp lethal activity, enterokinase inhibitory activity, CNS depressant and analgesic activity. The major chemical components include starch, phenolic acids, volatile oils, curcuminoids and terpenoids like difurocumenonol, amadannulen and amadaldehyde. This article brings to light the major active components present in C. amada along with their biological activities that may be important from the pharmacological point of view.

Hot air drying characteristics of mango ginger: Prediction of drying kinetics by mathematical modeling and artificial neural network

“…Due to its exotic flavor of raw unripe mango, it is used in pickles, candies, curries, salads, etc. in Indian subcontinent (Sasikumar 2005;Policegoudra et al 2011). The volatile oils of the mango ginger contain the mixtures of compounds present in both raw mango and turmeric (Golap and Bandyopadhyaya 1984;Rao et al 1989).…”

Antioxidant and Chemotherapeutic Potential of Curcuma Amada Rhizome Extract on Benzo(a)pyrene Induced Cervical Carcinoma in Sprague Dawley Rats

“…Administration of low and high dose of C. amada rhizome extract significantly reverted serum and tissue SOD and CAT activities and non-significantly reverted the activities of GPx, GSH and vitamin C that may be caused by the presence of phytochemicals like phenolic compounds [43] in the extract that act as natural antioxidant due to their redox properties and plays an important role in adsorbing and neutralizing free radicals, quenching singlet and triplet oxygen or decomposing peroxides [44], flavonoids like gallic acid [45] that inhibit cancer cell growth and plays an important role in the prevention of malignant transformation and cancer development by acting as a free radical scavenger and an inducer of differentiation and apoptosis in leukemia, lung cancer, colon adenocarcinoma cell lines and in normal lymphocyte cells [46], terpenoids like difurocumenonol, amadannulen and amadaldehyde that scavenge the damaging reactive oxygen species such as hydroxyl radicals, peroxyradicals, superoxide anion that are known to be involved in inflammation and carcinogenesis [47] by their radical scavenging activities [48] and curcuminoids like curcumin has been shown to suppress transformation, proliferation, and metastasis of tumors [49]. This is in accordance with [50] who stated that regular consumption of fruits and vegetables is strongly associated with reduced risk of developing chronic diseases such as cancer as the phytochemical extracts from it exhibit strong antioxidant activity.…”

Evaluation of rheological, bioactives and baking characteristics of mango ginger (curcuma amada) enriched soup sticks

“…Amongst the phytochemicals, several groups of polyphenols (anthocyanins, proanthocyanidins, flavanones, isoflavones, resveratrol and ellagic acid), non-nutrient chemical and dietary constituents are currently used in the pharmaceutical industry. Spices are considered to be the storehouse of active phytochemicals (Policegoudra et al 2011). Various spices belonging to the genus Curcuma are well-known for their multiple uses as medicines, cosmetics, dyes, flavourings and neutraceuticals.…”

“…antioxidant, antibacterial and antifungal) and rich chemical constituents. Curcuma amada is an untapped medicinal plant of the ginger family (Policegoudra et al 2011). Rhizomes of the species are buffcolored outside with a light yellow or white inner epidermal layer, and are used in folklore medicines, in culinary preparations such as preserves, candy, pickles and sauce as a source of mango flavour and for the manufacture of oleoresin, essential oil, etc.…”