Comparative Assay of the Nutritional Composition and Antioxidant Effect of the Cotyledon and Pulp of Chrysophyllum albidum fruit

Background: Chrysophyllum albidum has been widely consumed for its flesh part as a fruit snack and source of vitamins but also grossly under-utilized because of dearth of knowledge on nutritional and therapeutic potencies of other fruit parts. This study thus aimed to comparatively determine the nutritional, phytochemical and in vitro antioxidant properties of the flesh and cotyledon of C. albidum.

Methods: Proximate and phytochemical contents were determined according to the methods of Association of Official Analytical Chemists (2000). Mineral concentrations were evaluated using Atom Analyzer according to the protocols of AOAC (2000). Antioxidant properties were assayed through the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl hydrazyl radical scavenging, reducing power and lipid peroxidation abilities according to the methods of Barros et al (2007).

Results: Findings indicated a higher percentage contents of ash (3.83 ± 0.38), moisture (13.86 ± 0.84), crude fiber (11.07 ± 2.72) and crude protein (7.44 ± 0.44) in the flesh than the cotyledon of C. albidum, which were insignificantly different (p > 0.05). On the other hand, crude fat (13.80 ± 2.60) and total carbohydrate (64.96 ± 2.77) were found to be more in the cotyledon than the flesh but also not significantly different (p > 0.05). The mineral analysis revealed a higher but insignificantly different (p > 0.05) concentrations of iron (2.31 ± 0.22), copper (1.23 ± 0.09), zinc (2.94 ± 0.12) and potassium (1.48 ± 0.09) in the flesh than the cotyledon whereas cobalt (3.09 ± 0.92), magnesium (21.13 ± 0.58), sodium (16.27 ± 0.62) and selenium (4.24 ± 0.28) were more in the cotyledon than the flesh although insignificantly different (p > 0.05). While the flesh was observed to significantly contain high total phenol values, the cotyledon showed more significant mean values for tannin, oxalate, saponin and β-carotene than the flesh. The in vitro DPPH free radical scavenging and lipid peroxidation inhibition findings indicated higher antioxidant activities in the flesh than in the seed.

Conclusion: Conclusively, the flesh and seed fruit parts of C. albidum showed considerable and significant amounts of the parameters under study, which can be further exploited for their nutritional and pharmacological essence.