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Vitamins, phytochemicals and toxic elements in the pulp and seed of raphia palm fruit (Raphia hookeri)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 October 2008

Marc Nwosu Ogbuagu
Marc Nwosu Ogbuagu*
Affiliation:
Chem. Dep., Michael Okpara Univ. Agric., Umudike, PMB 7267, Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria
*
ogbuagumn@yahoo.com
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Abstract

Introduction. The raphia palm tree is found in abundance in the southern part of Nigeria, especially in the southeastern part. It is grown mainly for its production of palm wine. It also bears fruits (Raphia hookeri) whose pulp is considered edible in some parts of the country and not edible in other parts. Materials and methods. Conventional methods of analysis were used to investigate the vitamin, phytochemical and toxic element composition of the pulp and seed of the fruit. Results. The investigation shows that the pulp has higher concentrations of vitamin E (1.04 mg·100 g–1), niacin (0.2 mg·100 g–1), alkaloid (5 g·kg–1), saponins (3.6 g·kg–1), flavonoids (4 g·kg–1) and phenols (4.1 g·kg–1) than the seed, but the seed has higher values of vitamin A (0.16 mg·100g–1), thiamine (0.07 mg·100 g–1), riboflavin (0.07 mg·100 g–1), nitrates (3.05 mg·100 g–1) and nitrites (0.29 mg·100 g–1), and of the toxic elements: lead (0.03 µg·g–1), mercury (0.04 µg·g–1), arsenic (0.23 µg·g–1) and cadmium (0.04 µg·g–1) than the pulp. Conclusion. The pulp and seed of R. hookeri are non-toxic and can serve as food as well as in medicine.

Keywords

NigeriaRaphia hookerifruitsfruit pulpschemical compositionvitaminsNigeriaRaphia hookerifruitspulpe de fruitscomposition chimiquevitamine
Type
Research Article
Information
Fruits , Volume 63 , Issue 5 , September 2008 , pp. 297 - 302
Copyright
© CIRAD, EDP Sciences, 2008

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