Tamarindus indica L. A plant with multiple medicinal purposes

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0Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry 2016; 5(3): 50-54
E-ISSN: 2278-4136
P-ISSN: 2349-8234
JPP 2016; 5(3): 50-54
Received: 10-03-2016
Accepted: 11-04-2016
Aline Pereira Paes Menezes
School of Food Technology
(FATEC), Av. Castro Alves, 62 -
Marılia – São Paulo, Brazil.
Silvia Cristina Cerini Trevisan
School of Food Technology
(FATEC), Av. Castro Alves, 62 -
Marılia – São Paulo, Brazil.
Sandra Maria Barbalho
(a) School of Food Technology
(FATEC), Av. Castro Alves, 62 -
Marılia – São Paulo, Brazil.
(b) Medical School of Marilia,
University of Marilia
(UNIMAR), Marılia – Av.
Higino Muzzi Filho, 1001 Marília
- São Paulo, Brazil.
Elen Landgraf Guiguer
(a) School of Food Technology
(FATEC), Av. Castro Alves, 62 -
Marılia – São Paulo, Brazil.
(b) Medical School of Marilia,
University of Marilia
(UNIMAR), Marılia – Av.
Higino Muzzi Filho, 1001 Marília
- São Paulo, Brazil.
Correspondence:
Sandra Maria Barbalho
(a) School of Food Technology
(FATEC), Av. Castro Alves, 62 -
Marılia – São Paulo, Brazil
(b) Medical School of Marilia,
University of Marilia
(UNIMAR), Marılia – Av.
Higino Muzzi Filho, 1001 Marília
- São Paulo, Brazil
Tamarindus indica L. A plant with multiple medicinal
purposes
Aline Pereira Paes Menezes, Silvia Cristina Cerini Trevisan, Sandra
Maria Barbalho and Elen Landgraf Guiguer
Abstract
Tamarindus indica is a plant that can be used traditionally in wound healing, snake bite, abdominal pain,
colds, inflammations, diarrhea, diarrhea, helminth infections, and fever. It may also play a role as
antimicrobial, antidiabetic, antiinflammatory and effects on the control of satiety, playing a potential role
in the treatment or prevention of obesity and other chronic diseases. These effects are probably due to the
presence of polyphenols as n-Hexacosane, eicosanoic acid, b-sitosterol, octacosanyl ferulate, 21-
oxobehenic acid, and pinitol and phenolic antioxidants for proanthocyanidins. T. indicus includes a
variety of bioactive compounds in the leaves, seeds, bark, pulp, and flowers with beneficial effects to
human health and the possibility of application in the pharmaceutical industry.
Keywords: Tamarindus indica, anti-oxidant, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory and anti-obesity
1. Introduction
There is a growing trend in researches about medicinal plants due to their potential to cure
many diseases, because of low costs and lower frequency of side effects when compared to
synthetic drugs [1-3].
The Tamarindus indica L. is a fruit tree belonging to the Magnoliophyta, Order Fabales,
Family Fabaceae (subfamily Caesalpinioideae). It is native to tropical Africa and its cultivation
was widespread, developing well in all tropical continents [1-7].
There are different varieties of T. indica and they can be divided into acidic and sweet fruit.
The sweet and sour at the same time in the fruit is unique and it is used popularly in cooking.
In addition to the fruit, its various parts, as roots, wood, bark, and leaves, possess nutritional
and pharmaceutical properties [7-12].
Figure 1 shows various applications of tamarind which can be used traditionally in wound
healing, snake bite, abdominal pain, colds, inflammations, diarrhea, helminth infections, and
fever. This plant has also antimicrobial and antidiabetic activity [10 -13].
Fig 1: Properties of leaves, fruit and seed of T. indica.

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The objective of this review was to investigate the properties
and medicinal applications of the different parts of
Tamarindus indica L.
2. Methods
This review was based on a literature survey of studies
involving in vitro, humans or animal’s models. The survey
was conducted from January to May 2016 and we used
databases as Scielo, PMC, Pub Med, Medline and LILACS.
2.1 Properties of Tamarindus indica L.
Literature bring several studies about tamarind compounds and
its effects. In Table 1 are found some properties of this plant,
the part that are used and the active components.
Table 1: Properties and active components of different parts of T. indica.
Part of the plant Properties Active components References
Bark
Antiallergic, antimicrobial, antibiotic,
antityrosinase, antioxidant, analgesic and
spasmogenic activities.
Rich in tannins and polyphenols:
N-Hexacosane, eicosanoic acid, b-sitosterol, octacosanyl
ferulate, 21-oxobehenic acid, and (+) - pinitol and phenolic
antioxidants for proanthocyanidins in several ways: catechin,
procyanidin B2, epicatechin, procyanidin trimer, procyanidin
tetramer, procyanidin pentamer, procyanidin hexamer along
the taxifolin, apigenin, eriodictyol, luteolin and naringenin.
[17 – 19]
Seed
Antiinflammatory activity;
Effects on the control of satiety, having a
potential for treatment or prevention of
obesity; gastroprotective effects.
Source of protein and starch, sulfur amino acids and phenolic
antioxidants as proanthocyanidins and epicatechin.
Inhibitors of proteinases.
[8, 9, 15, 17, 20]
Leaves Antiemetic activity and protection for the
liver.
Source of protein, lipid, fiber and vitamins like thiamine,
riboflavin, niacin, ascorbic acid and β-carotene.
Composed by 13 essential oils, in which limonene benzoate
and benzyl are the most important compounds, followed by
pentadecanol and hexadecanol.
[6, 12, 18, 21]
Fruit/ Pulp
Hypolipidemic activity, antioxidant, anti
fluorose, analgesic, hepatoregenerativa
and antispasmodic.
B vitamins, minerals, tartaric acid, acetic acid, citric acid,
formic acid, malic acid, and succinic acid, amino acids; invert
sugar (25-30%), pectin, protein, fat, some pyrazines (trans-2-
hexenal), and some thiazoles (2-ethylthiazole, 2-
methylthiazole).
[8, 10, 16, 18, 23]
Stem bark
The tea is used for sore throat.
Spasmogenic, analgesic, antimicrobial
and hypoglycemic activities.
Flavonoids, cardiac glycosides, alkaloids, saponins and
tannins.
[18, 23, 24, 25,
26]
The flowers may also be used as regular food and are good
sources of amino acids, fatty acids and minerals. [10, 21]
2.2 Antioxidant properties
The antioxidant activity is generally related to the presence of
phenolic compounds that show specific common structures
that allow them to be reducing agents, hydrogen donors and
singlet oxygen scavengers, among other reaction mechanisms.
At the cellular level, several antioxidant compounds are known
to be capable of stabilizing or destroying free radicals, thereby
preventing damage to cell structures. Its significance in human
health has been described extensively and many studies have
shown they may play various roles as protection against
cardiovascular disease (reducing chronic inflammation and
improving endothelial function), certain types of cancer and
cytotoxic effects [8, 10, 18, 23-28].
Fruits, leaves and seeds are natural sources of antioxidants and
several studies have bet on this alternative to replacing
synthetic antioxidants [12–21].
Sandesh et al. [21] studied the effects of methanol extract of the
seed coat of T. indica in Wistar rats and observed decreased
activity of superoxide dismutase (55%), catalase (73%) and
peroxidase (78%), and they also observed this extract protects
and restore hepatic architecture. Authors suggest that this
product could be studied as a health supplement and
nutraceutical as well as a possible application for the
preservation of food products.
Other authors showed that the crude extract of tamarind pulp
has phenolic compounds with antioxidants properties which
have improved the efficiency of superoxide dismutase,
catalase and glutathione peroxidase in animals [10, 29, 30,].
There are also antioxidant activity in the ethanol extract of the
seed coat that is a byproduct of the tamarind gum industry, and
could be used as a source of safe and inexpensive antioxidants
[27, 31].
The tamarind leaves are rich in lipids, fatty acids, vitamins and
flavonoids. Due to the presence of this high number of
components, the leaves have enormous potential as a source of
medicinal products, even with the presence of saponins, which
are well known for their metabolites that can stimulate cell
lysis. In the other hand, Escalona et al. [15] investigated the
pharmacological effects and the toxicity from the extract of
tamarind leaves in erythrocyte and their results showed that
despite the presence of saponin, no adverse effects were found
and observed that the extract worked as a protector of the cells,
probably due to their antioxidant mechanisms and flavonoid
content [12, 21, 27, 31].
The study conducted by Razali et al. [32] identified the presence
of polyphenolic compounds in the seed extract. They foun
caffeic acid as the most active compound with respect to
antioxidant activity therefore capable of protecting cells
against lipid peroxidation that has been identified in aging and

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in many diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease,
diabetes and inflammatory diseases.
According with Soradech et al. [33] the tamarind seed coat also
contains active antioxidants, as phenolics, tannins and
flavonoids, and its extracts possess lipid peroxidation
reduction, antityrosinase collagen stimulating, antimicrobial,
antiinflammatory, antidiabetic and antihyperlipidemic
activities.
Sundaram et al. [34] showed that the seed extract improved
arthritis by regulation of bone degeneration mediators and
cartilage inflammation and oxidative stress. This disease is
related to enzymatic degradation of articular cartilage by
matrix metalloproteinases, hyaluronidases, and
exoglycosidases. The use of tamarind seed extract inhibits the
elevation of the activity of these enzymes.
Tamarind seeds also possess xyloglucan which is a natural
polysaccharide used in food and medicine industry. Together
with gallic acid, this compound exhibits strong antioxidant,
antimutagenic and anticarcinogenic activity [35].
2.3 Hypolipidemic and hypoglycemic properties of T.
indica
Hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia and overweight or obesity are
the main consequences of diabetes mellitus, metabolic
syndrome and cardiovascular problems, that are the main
causes of death worldwide. In modern medicine there is no
therapy efficient enough to cure these diseases, and the
existent drugs are expensive and present undesirable side
effects. Some authors have shown the importance of T. indica
in the control of these metabolism abnormalities (Table 2) [5,
36].
Table 2: Effects of extracts of T. indica on glycemia, lipd profile, and body weight.
Type of extract and administration Type of model Effect References
Aqueous extract of the seed orally Rats and humans
Improvement in the hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia, and
lipid peroxidation and improvement in the antioxidant
defense system efficiency.
[5, 31, 37, 38,
39]
Crude extract Rats Hypoglicemic activity. [26]
Aqueous extract of the pulp orally Hypocolesterolemic
hamster
Hepatoprotective activity.
Hypocholesterolemic and antioxidant properties. Potential
protection against oxidative damage.
[29-30, 40 – 41]
Ethanolic extract of the pulp orally
Obese rats and
hypocholesterolemic
hamster
Decrease in body weight, on serum cholesterol and
triglycerides and increase in HDL-c levels (treatment of
obesity induced by a cafeteria diet).
[10, 18]
Extract of the seed coat Rats Antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic and anti-
hyperlipidemic activities.
[33, 36, 39, 42]
Alcoholic extracts of stem barks Rats Hypoglycemic and protection against oxidative stress. [43]
3.4 Other applications for T. indica L.
Besides the above properties of t. indica, Table 3 shows other possibilities of application of this plant.
Table 3: Other properties of T. indica.
Part of the plant Effect References
Methanolic leaf extract Inhibtion of Burkholderia pseudomallei, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Salmonella
paratyphi, Bacillus subtilis, Salmonella typhi, and Staphylococcus aureus.
[6, 10, 44-45]
Acetone, ethanol and water extracts
stem bark Activity against both gram positive and gram negative bacteria. [44 -45]
Fruit and leaves Laxative effects. [10]
Aqueous extract of the pulp Satisfactory against tuberculosis induced by oxidative damage in rat liver. [16, 18, 41]
Sharma et [8] studied the pectin extracted from the pulp and
observed that it has antioxidant potential higher than apple
pectin, commercial pectin, guar gum, derivatives sulfates,
oligosaccharides, and xanthan, demonstrating that the physico-
chemical, and rheological potential may be used as an
excipient in pharmaceutical and food products.
Tamarind leaves extract is also an efficient material for the
synthesis of spherical nanoparticles of gold that play a vital
role in human health. [46]
4. Conclusion
We may conclude that T. indicus includes a variety of
bioactive compounds in the leaves, seeds, bark, pulp, and
flowers with beneficial effects to human health and the
possibility of application in the pharmaceutical industry. The
drugs normally used to regulate glycaemia, dyslipidemia and
other metabolic disorders are costly; if we consider that these
diseases have reached epidemic proportions in many countries,
it is necessary to find non-allopathic alternatives that minimize
the risk factors of these diseases and help in the treatment or in
the prevention of further complications and death.
Further studies are necessary in order to elucidate all the
properties of the tamarin in order to obtain information enough
to provide validation for its medical use.
Conflict of interests
Authors declare no conflict of interests.

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