Ackee (Blighia sapida) Fruit Arils: Nutritional, Phytochemicals and Antioxidant Properties

Full text

International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences
2014; 3(6): 534-537
Published online November 10, 2014 (http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/ijnfs)
doi: 10.11648/j.ijnfs.20140306.17
ISSN: 2327-2694 (Print); ISSN: 2327-2716 (Online)
Ackee (Blighia sapida) fruit arils: Nutritional,
phytochemicals and antioxidant properties
Veronica M. Dossou, Jacob K. Agbenorhevi
*
, Sussana Combey, Sarah Afi-Koryoe
Department of Food Science and Technology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
Email address:
jkagbenorhevi@yahoo.com (J. K. Agbenorhevi), jkagbenorhevi.cos@knust.edu.gh (J. K. Agbenorhevi)
To cite this article:
Veronica M. Dossou, Jacob K. Agbenorhevi, Sussana Combey, Sarah Afi-Koryoe. Ackee (Blighia sapida) Fruit Arils: Nutritional,
Phytochemicals and Antioxidant Properties. International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences. Vol. 3, No. 6, 2014, pp. 534-537.
doi: 10.11648/j.ijnfs.20140306.17
Abstract:
The limited information on the health and nutritional benefits of edible arils of the ackee (Blighia sapida) tree
makes it underutilized in West Africa. This study was to investigate the nutrient content, total phenols, antioxidant activity and
phytochemical constituents of freeze and oven dried ackee arils. Phytochemical analysis was done using standard protocol
whereas antioxidant activity and total phenol content was determined using the DPPH and Folin-Ciocalteau methods,
respectively. The minerals content was determined by means of atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The moisture, crude fat,
crude protein, crude fibre, ash, carbohydrate and energy content were in the range of 4.83-5.20%, 51.60-56.66%, 10.94-11.67%,
3.63-3.88%, 8.01-8.56%, 14.41-20.62% and 590.67-614.26 kcal/100g, respectively. The ackee arils also contained appreciable
minerals (Ca, P, Mg, Na, K and Zn) with K (425.10-475.71 mg/100g) being the highest while Zn (1.95-2.08 mg/100g) was the
least mineral. Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of tannins, saponins and glycosides in the arils. The total phenolic
content was 5235.04±103.9 and 5175.38±178.46 mg GAE/100g in oven-dried and freeze-dried samples, respectively. The
vitamin C content was 29.6 and 35.7 mg/100 g whereas antioxidant activity was 66.0
and 29.4 % DPPH inhibition (with trolox
equivalence of 91.0±9.4 and 40.6±0.6 µM TE/g) in the oven and freeze dried ackee arils, respectively. Drying method had effect
on the phytochemicals and antioxidant activity of the ackee flour sample. The findings suggest that ackee aril had considerable
total phenols content and antioxidant activity, which implies that the fruit aril has the potential for application in food systems to
maintain food quality.
Keywords:
Ackee, Ackee Arils, Freeze Dried, Oven Dried, Nutrients, Antioxidants, Phytochemicals
1. Introduction
Blighia sapida, commonly known as ackee, is an inherent
tree crop of West Africa, prevalent in tropical and subtropical
environments. The ripe arils of the ackee fruit, yellow to
cream coloured, are nutty-flavored and edible [1]. The arils
are the major component of the Jamaican national dish; ackee
and saltfish. The ripe fruit arils are eaten fresh, dried, fried,
roasted or made into sauce or soup in some parts of West
Africa [2].
Ackee arils have been reported to have comparable
proximate composition to many known legumes and oil seeds
[1,3,4]. However, ackee arils have little commercial and
nutritional significance in the West African sub-region.
Various parts of the ackee tree are employed in traditional
medicine for the treatment of fever, malaria, internal
hemorrhage, dysentery, yellow fever, diabetes and
constipation in West Africa. The roots, bark, leaves, capsules
and seeds were identified in the treatment of 22 diseases in
Benin [2]. Consumption of ackee roots bark extract exerted
significant hypoglycemic effect on the normoglycemic albino
rats [5]. However, limited information exists on the health
beneficial components of the arils.
Substantial scientific knowledge on the health beneficial
constituents like phytochemicals and antioxidant activity of
ackee arils could ensure the development of more efficient
ways to convert the fruit into useful products with improved
commercial value. This study, therefore, aims to investigate
the antioxidant activity, phytochemical constituents, total
phenol, vitamin C content of freeze and oven dried ackee arils.

International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences 2014; 3(6): 534-537 535
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Source of Materials
Ackee fruit samples were obtained from Bantama in the
Ashanti region of Ghana. Folin-Ciocalteu phenol reagent (2N),
Trolox ((s)-(-)-6,-hydroxy-2, 5, 7, 8-tetramethyl chroman-2-
carboxylic acid, C
14
H
18
O
4,
97%), Gallic acid
(C
6
H
2
(OH
3
)COOH) and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryhydrazyl (DPPH
radical) were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (Poole, Dorset,
UK). All other chemicals used were of analytical grade.
2.2. Sample Preparation
Mature ackee fruits were harvested using a sickle. The
edible portions were removed from the fruit using knife and
divided into two portions. One portion was freeze dried for 72
h (using a vacuum freeze dryer; YK 115-50, True Ten
Industrial Co. Ltd, Taiwan)
and the other portion was dried in
an oven (Beveilinging Conventional Oven Dryer; DMV 1250,
Holland) at 50 °C for 72 h. The dried sample was milled using
an attrition mill and stored in the refrigerator for further
analysis.
2.3. Phytochemical Screening
The samples were screened for various secondary
metabolites. Preliminary phytochemical analysis was carried
out to test for the presence of tannins, flavonoids, terpenoids,
alkaloids, reducing sugars, saponins and quinones.
The time taken for foam to disappear from samples shaken
in distilled water was used to determine the presence of
saponins [6]. Glycosides were determined using Fehling’s
solution I and II and observing for development of a brick-red
colour [6]. The presence of tannins was determined using
Ferric chloride solution and observing for development of
green colour [7]. Deep brown rings and green rings formed
after addition of glacial acetic acid followed by concentrated
H
2
SO
4
to sample dissolved in chloroform indicated the
presence of steroids and triterpenoids [7]. The Mayer’s test as
described by Tiwari et al., (2011)[6] was used to determine the
presence of alkaloids whereas the alkaline reagent test was
used to detect flavonoids [6].
2.4. Determination of Total Phenol Content
The total phenol content was analyzed using
Folin-Ciocalteu method of measuring the colour change from
yellow to blue as a result of reduction of the
tungstate-molebdate mixture in the Folin-Ciocalteu reagent by
phenols present in the analyte solution [8].
2.5. Determination of Vitamin C Content
Vitamin C was determined using the method of Benderitter
et al. (1998) [9].
2.6. Determination of Antioxidant Activity
The removal of DPPH by sample was determined using
Trolox as standard. Standard calibration of absorbance of
Trolox at 0, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 800 µM was employed. The
absorbance readings of the DPPH solution at 517 nm after
treatment with sample was subtracted from that of the blank
solution and expressed as a percentage.
2.7. Statistical Analysis
Results were expressed as mean ± standard deviation (SD)
of three measurements. The Student T-test was used to analyse
differences between means, with p < 0.05 considered to be
significant.
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Nutritional Composition of Ackee Arils
As shown in Table 1, the moisture contents of both oven
and freeze dried ackee arils were low, indicating their
potential for long term storage. Ackee arils have high fat
content. This oil can be exploited for commercial soap and
oil production. However, the low protein content of ackee
implies the need for complementing with other protein-rich
foods in the diet. The ackee arils also contained appreciable
minerals (Ca, P, Mg, Na, K and Zn) with K (425.10-475.71
mg/100g) being the highest while Zn (1.95-2.08 mg/100g)
was the least mineral determined by atomic absorption
spectrophotometry (Table 2).
Table 1. Nutritional Composition of Ackee Arils.
Parameter Oven Dried Arils Freeze Dried Arils
Moisture (%) 4.83 ± 0.02a 5.20 ± 0.26a
Fat (%) 56.66 ± 0.27a 51.60 ± 2.23b
Protein (%) 11.67 ± 0.37a 10.94 ±0.19a
Ash (%) 8.56 ± 0.44a 8.01 ± 1.13a
Fibre (%) 3.88 ± 0.14a 3.63 ± 0.01a
Carbohydrate (%) 14.41 ± 0.92a 20.62 ± 3.61b
Energy (kcal/100g) 614.26 ± 1.61a 590.67 ± 5.17b
Table 2. Mineral Composition of Ackee Arils.
Mineral
(mg/100g) Oven Dried Arils Freeze Dried Arils
Ca 160.00 ±0.00a 200.00 ± 0.00b
Mg 240.00±0.00a 185.00± 7.07b
P 152.43±0.00a 152.43±4.15a
K 475.71± 0.00a 425.10 ±14.31a
Zn 1.95±0.05a 2.08 ±0.02b
Na 84.24±0.00a 73.37±3.84a
a-b
Values in a row with different letters are significantly different (p < 0.05).
3.2. Phytochemical Constituents of Ackee Arils
Table 3 shows the phytochemical constituents of the ackee
arils.
Tannins and glycosides were present in both oven and
freeze dried arils while saponins were present in oven dried
arils only. Flavonoids, triterpenes, cyanogenic and anthracene
glycosides as well as alkaloids were absent in both oven and
freeze dried arils. Also, negative results were obtained for
saponins, flavonoids, triterpenes, anthracene glycosides,
cyanogenic glycosides and alkaloids. The absence of these

536 Veronica M. Dossou et al.: Ackee (Blighia sapida) Fruit Arils: Nutritional, Phytochemicals and Antioxidant Properties
phytochemical constituents may be due to ripening and
maturation of the fruit as well as exposure to sunlight as
suggested by Boyer and Liu, (2004) [10]. Cyanogenic
glycoside being absent is a positive indication that the fruit is
not toxic since it is an indication of toxicity and poisoning [11].
Thus the ripened ackee arils are non toxic. These results
obtained are similar to those obtained by Hamzah et al. (2013)
[12] and John-Dewole and Popoola (2013) [13], who
confirmed the presence of saponin, saponin glycoside, tannin,
balsam and cardiac glycosides and alkaloids, tannins,
saponins, flavonoids and phenols, respectively.
Table 3. Phytochemical Constituents of Ackee Arils.
Phytochemical constituent
Oven-dried Arils
Freeze- dried Arils
Saponins + -
Tannins + +
Flavonoids - -
Triterpenes - -
Glycosides + +
Cyanogenic glycosides - -
Anthracene glycosides - -
Alkaloids - -
+ Present – Absent
3.3. Total Phenols, Vitamin C Content and Antioxidant of
Ackee Arils
Generally, oven dried ackee arils expressed higher total
phenol content, antioxidant activity and trolox equivalent
concentration than freeze dried arils (Table 4). This could be
due to the presence of maillard reaction products generated
during the oven drying. Maillard reaction products are brown
polyphenolic compounds which are known to express some
antioxidant activity. Vitamin C content of oven dried ackee
arils was lower than that of freeze dried arils. This was
probably due to the degradation of vitamin C by the
application of heat during oven drying. Application of heat
causes loss of vitamin C [14]
According to Kaur and Kapoor (2002) [15], antioxidant
activity can be classified as low when % inhibition is < 60%,
moderate if 60-70% and high if > 70%. Hence the antioxidant
activity of freeze dried ackee arils can be said to be low while
that of oven dried arils is moderate.
Table 4. Total Phenols, Vitamin C Content and Antioxidant Activity of Ackee
Arils.
Composition Oven-dried Arils
Freeze-dried Arils
Total Phenol (mg GAE/100g) 5235.0± 103.9a 5175.4± 178.5a
Vitamin C (mg/100g) 29.6 ± 0.4a 35.7± 1.3b
Antioxidant Activity
(% DPPH inhibition) 66.0 ± 6.8a 29.4± 0.4b
Trolox equivalent (µM TE/g) 91.0 ± 9.4a 40.6± 0.6b
a-b
Values in a row with different letters are significantly different (p < 0.05).
In comparison to ackee arils, lower total phenol content
(4.64 to 8.90 mg of GAE/g) and Higher % inhibition (78.5 -
88.4 %) was reported for bitter melon varieties [16]. Carper
fruits were, however, reported to have higher total phenol
content (7500 mg/100 g) than ackee arils [17]
Ackee arils could serve as an appreciable source of natural
antioxidants which could play a key role in health
maintenance and prevention of the chronic and degenerative
diseases, such as, cardiac and cerebral ischemia,
carcinogenesis, neurodegenerative disorders, diabetic
pregnancy, rheumatic disorder, DNA damage and ageing [18,
19]. These natural plant phenolics in ackee fruit aril have the
potential for application in food systems to maintain food
quality.
The vitamin C content of the ackee arils were lower than
that in orange (50 mg/ 100 g) but higher than that in tomatoes
(15 mg/100 g) as reported by Belitz et al. (2009) [20]. Higher
vitamin C content (65 mg/100 g) was reported in fresh ackee
arils by Atolani et al. (2009) [21]. Heat generated during
processes such as drying and milling could account for the
lower vitamin C content in the oven and freeze dried ackee
arils.
The considerable amount of vitamin C in the ackee arils
enables its usage as an antioxidant, thus stabilizing folate in
food and in plasma, by increasing excretion of oxidized folate
derivatives in human scurvy as well as aiding in metabolism
such as tyrosine metabolism. It can also be useful in protecting
low-density lipoproteins ex vivo against oxidation and can
function similarly in the blood as well [22]. According to
Brody (1999) [23], the RDA of vitamin C is 60 mg/100 g,
therefore consuming about 200 g of ackee fruit aril can help
achieve recommended daily intake of vitamin C.
The high of total phenol content of ackee arils indicate that
ackee is a good source of phenols and can be used for reducing
blood pressure, lowering of cancer and cardiovascular
diseases, for level free radical adsorption and neutralization,
as anticancer and antibacterial agents.
The high total phenol content ackee arils is likely due to the
presence of ascorbic acid. Other very easily oxidizable
substances, not considered as phenolic compounds, may also
result in the formation of blue color with Folin–Ciocalteu
reagent, causing an overestimation of total phenolic content
[24]. Consumption of approximately 1000 mg GAE/day of
total phenolic compounds was recommended by Scalbert and
Williamson (2000) [25]. Therefore consuming 100g of ackee
fruit aril a day can help achieve the normal daily intake of total
phenols.
4. Conclusion
The results indicate the presence of tannins, saponins and
glycosides in the ackee fruit arils. The arils also had
considerable total phenols content, minerals, vitamin C and
antioxidant activity. This implies that utilization of ackee arils
could impart antioxidant benefits to products and consumers.
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