Canthium coromandelicum leaf as a functional food
Abstract
Canthium coromandelicum (Sinhala-Kara) leaf is consumed in the form of a 'Sambal' and 'Malluma' mixed with coconut. It shows a hypocholesterolaemic effect on Wistar rats which is due to high molecular weight pectin (up to 2 million Daltons) as determined by Sepharose (2B) gel chromatography and present in a content of 1.8-3.4% on dry weight. Together with its mild hypoglycaemic effect reported previously its hypocholesterolaemic effect is now hypothesized to be due to the effect of high molecular weight pectin. It is postulated that the leaf would make a good functional food.
Key words: Canthium coromandelicum, Hypocholesterolaemic effect, Pectin
Vidyodaya J. of Sci.. (2009) Vol. 14, pp 105-109
© 2010 WVRTDG Bandara, S Ekanayake, ER Jansz, K Balasubramanium, published by University of Sri Jayawardenepura
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons License.