NATURAL BIOACTIVE CONSTITUENTS FOR FUNCTIONAL FOOD DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The Lepisanthes alata (Malay cherry) edible plants showed strong inhibition activity against starch hydrolases resulting from polymerised proanthocyanidins. The proanthocyanidins, consisted of (epi)catechins and (epi)gallocatechins, showed stronger inhibition activity against α-amylase than α-glucosidase. Their IC50 values for α-amylase were 1.24 ± 0.10, 0.573 ± 0.001, 3.54 ± 0.03, and 1.19 ± 0.02 μg/mL, for young leaves, mature leaves, unripe fruits, and ripe fruits, respectively. Furthermore, incorporation with mature leaves into wheat, rice, tapioca, and potato flours is a promising way to dose-dependently mitigate the digestibility of noodles. The tapioca noodles showed a largest reduction in digestibility by 69.2% after 180 min. To better understand change in digestibility as leaves matured, young leaves were incorporated into wheat and rice flours at the same inhibition level. Additionally, L. alata fruits were found to be valuable sources for antioxidant nutraceuticals because their phenolic compounds were major antioxidants measured by ORAC and DPPH assays.