Kittibunchakul Suwapat, Hudthagosol Chatrapa, Sanporkha Promluck, Sapwarobol Suwimol, Suttisansanee Uthaiwan, Sahasakul Yuraporn
Food and Nutrition Academic and Research Cluster, Institute of Nutrition, Mahidol University, Salaya, Phuttamonthon, Nakhon Pathom 73170, Thailand.
Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University, Ratchathewi, Bangkok 10400, Thailand.
Plants (Basel). 2022 Jun 5;11(11):1515. doi: 10.3390/plants11111515.
Sacha inchi ( L.) has been adopted as a novel economic crop with well-studied nutritional and bioactive benefits for human health. Sacha inchi seeds and oil have high commercial value but scant research has focused on its leaves. This study investigated and compared phenolic compositions, antioxidant potentials and in vitro health-related properties of both young and mature sacha inchi leaves after freeze-drying and oven-drying processes. Results showed that -coumaric acid, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, ferulic acid and gallic acid were predominantly detected in both young and mature leaves that also exhibited similar total phenolic contents (TPCs), while higher TPCs were detected in freeze-dried than in oven-dried leaves. Mature leaves exhibited higher antioxidant potential than young leaves after freeze-drying, while the opposite results were observed for oven-drying. Overall in vitro health-related activities were higher in mature leaves compared to young leaves regardless of the drying process. Knowledge gained from this study can be used to encourage prospective utilization of sacha inchi leaves as a source of health-promoting compounds. This, in turn, will increase the commercial value of the leaves and provide a wider market variety of sacha inchi products.
印加果（Plukenetia volubilis L.）已被用作一种新型经济作物，其对人类健康的营养和生物活性益处已得到充分研究。印加果种子和油具有很高的商业价值，但对其叶子的研究却很少。本研究调查并比较了冻干和烘干处理后的印加果幼叶和成熟叶的酚类成分、抗氧化潜力以及与健康相关的体外特性。结果表明，在幼叶和成熟叶中均主要检测到对香豆酸、4-羟基苯甲酸、阿魏酸和没食子酸，它们的总酚含量（TPC）也相似，而冻干叶中的TPC高于烘干叶。冻干后成熟叶的抗氧化潜力高于幼叶，而烘干处理则观察到相反的结果。无论干燥过程如何，成熟叶的总体体外健康相关活性均高于幼叶。本研究获得的知识可用于促进印加果叶作为健康促进化合物来源的潜在利用。这反过来将增加叶子的商业价值，并提供更多种类的印加果产品市场。
