Essay About T. Indica Fruit Pulp And T. Indica Fruit Pulp Extracts

Evaluation of the Antioxidant Activity of Sida Cordifolia
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locally known as asam jawa belongs to the family
Leguminosae and grows naturally in many tropical and
subtropical regions. Various parts of the plants are used as
food components and in herbal medicine. The T. indica
fruits have irregular curved pods. When ripe, the pods are
filled with brown or reddish-brown pulp that coats the
seeds. The pulp has a sweet/sour taste and is widely used as
flavouring in cooking. There are wide differences in fruit
size and flavour in seedling trees. The Indian types have
longer pods with 6-12 seeds, while the West Indian types
have shorter pods, containing only 3-6 seeds. The pulp is
believed to be rich in vitamins and minerals such as niacin
and calcium, respectively [27]. The T. indica fruit pulp is
commonly used in traditional medicine including as a
digestive, laxative, expectorant and an antipyretic agent.
Biochemical analysis in support of the beneficial effects
of the T. indica fruit pulp extracts includes a study by
Martinello et al. [26] who showed that the T. indica fruit
extracts were able to decrease the levels of serum cholesterol
and triglycerides in hypercholesterolaemic hamsters.
The T. indica fruit pulps have also been shown to contain
phenolic antioxidants such as epicatechins [44] that were
able to inhibit low-density lipoprotein (LDL) oxidation in
vitro [45]. Chan et al. [9] had shown that epicatechins from
jasmine green tea were able to reduce serum levels of TG,
and cholesterol in hamsters fed a high-fat diet, but the
hypolipidaemic effects were not through the inhibition of
liver HMGCoA reductase or intestinal ACAT. They further
postulated that the observed hypolipidaemic effects of
epicatechins were probably associated with the inhibition
of absorption of dietary fat, cholesterol or reabsorption of
bile acids [9]. Another group of researchers, Landi
Librandi