Accessible Bioactive Compounds and Health Benefits of Amla (Emblica officinalis)

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Copyright © September, 2022; Current Agriculture Trends 9
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ISSN (E): 2583 – 1933
Curr. Agri.Tren.:e-Newsletter, (2022) 1(9), 9-12
Article ID: 153
Accessible Bioactive Compounds and Health Benefits of Amla
(Emblica officinalis)
Mukesh Kumar Sahu*,
Arpan Buragohain,
Nilotpol Shankarison,
Suprakash Sau
Assam Agricultural University,
Jorhat-13
INTRODUCTION
Amla has found its important position in the Indian
indigenous system of medicine like Ayurveda since a very
long period of time. It is widely grown in tropical and sub-
tropical parts of the world viz. India, Pakistan, China, South
East Asia and Iran (Vasudevan and Parle, 2007). Amla has
an important role in ayurvedic medicine for treatment of
anxiety and other problems related to digestion and skin,
improves, anemic conditions, improve functioning of liver
and has a positive effect on cardio-vascular system of body
(Asmawi, 1992). Presence of polyphenols, Vitamin-C amino
acids, minerals and other bioactive compounds makes the
amla fruit a natural source of anti-oxidant. It is small to
medium sized deciduous tree and the height of plant ranges
from 8 to 18 meter with light grey bark, leaves are simple
and light green, flowers are greenish yellow. Fruits have 6
vertical furrows and are globose, fleshy and pale yellow in
colour (Parmar and Kaushal, 1982). Amal is frequently used
for the Industrial processing for the preparation of various
kinds of products in the Industry at large scale (Pareek,
2011). Most of the products of amla like Jam, pickle,
Chawanprash, candy, digestive powder etc. are available in
the marker as Ayurveda product (Singh, 2003).
Figure 1. Fresh fruit of the Amla
Article History
Received: 27.
08.2022
Revised: 10.
09.2022
Accepted: 14.
09.2022
This article is published under the
terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License 4.0
.
*Corresponding Author
Mukesh Kumar Sahu*

Copyright © September, 2022; Current Agriculture Trends 10
Fruiting season:
As amla is a deciduous tree, new
shoots starts emergence during the start of
April. The fruiting period lies between
December to March and sometimes extending
up to April. The tree of amla is heavy bearer
and fruits generally remain free from the
attack of birds and insects. The harvesting of
the fruit gives maximum yield during January
to March.
Nutrient composition in Aonla
Amla serves as source of
carbohydrates, fibres, proteins and minerals
like Iron, Calcium and Phosphorous. It is rich
source of Vitamin-C, Emblicinin A and B
which have anti-oxidant properties (Barthakur
and Arnold, 1991). The chemical composition
and nutrients availability in amla fruit is
mentioned in table 1.
Table 1. Nutritional composition of Amla (Shwetha and Krishna, 2014)
Nutrient composition
Quantity
Moisture
81.2 %
Protein
0.5 %
Fat
0.1 %
Fibre
3.4 %
Carbohydrate
14.1 %
Calcium
0.05 %
Phosphorous
0.02 %
Iron
12 µg/g
Vitamin-C
6 mg/g
Bioactive compounds in Aonla
Amla has been found to be a rich
source of different types of bioactive
compounds. Polyphenols comprise the main
group of secondary metabolites wherein
several compounds belonging to phenolic
acids, flavonoids, tannins, other phenolics and
derivatives compounds have been reported in
different studies (Liu, et al., 2008). The amla
fruit also includes numerous bioactive
components including isostrictiniin, ellagic
acid, apigenin, chebulinic acid, quercetin,
gallic acid, chebulagic acid. The tannins also
found in the fruit extract of amla
arepedunculagin, emlicanin A, phyllaemblicin
B, emblicanin B and punigluconine . 100 g of
edible fruit have been reported to be 470–680
mg of Vit. C (Bansal, et al., 2015). A
composite list of bioactive coumpounds
present in amla has been given in table 2.
Table–2: Classes of chemical compounds in amla
Classes
Compounds
Alkaloid
Phyllantine, phyllantidine, zeatin, zeatin nucleotide, zeatin rioside
Benzoid
chebulic acid, chebulinic acid, chebulagic acid, gallic acid, ellagic acid, amlaic
acid, 3-6-di-O-galloyl-glucose, ethyl gallate, b-glucogallin, 1,6,di-O-galloyl-b-
D-glucose, putranjivan A, digallic acid, phyllemblic acid, emlicol, galacteric
acid
Diterpene
gibberellin A-1, gibberellin A-3, gibberellin A-4, giberellin A-9
Triterpene
lupeol
Flavonoid
Leucodelphinidin, kaempherol, kaempherol-3-glucoside, rutin
Quercetin, kaempherol-3-O- β -D-glucoside, quercetin -3-O- β -D glucoside
Furanolactone
Ascorbic acid
Sterol
β-sitosterol

Copyright © September, 2022; Current Agriculture Trends 11
Health Benefits
Apart from use of amla in the
preparation of ayurvedic medicines, it plays a
significant role in curing various ailments like
liver diseases, digestion related problems,
treatment of diabetes and cancer. In several
studies the anticancer potential of six phenolic
compounds isolated from Amla fruit by in
vitro proliferation assay (Adil, et al., 2010).
MTT method was used to study the effects of
these compounds on splenocyte proliferation
and the cytotoxicity to both human breast
cancer cell (MCF-7) and human embryonic
lung fibroblast cell (HELF) (Krishnaveni and
Mirunalini, 2012). Amla promotes immune
system functioning, a rich source of vitamin-C,
antioxidants, increases hair growth, etc
(Hussain, et al., 2021).
CONCLUSION
Amla is the well-known fruits of the tropical
and subtropical region of the world, mostly
planted for the fruit production. Amla is the
potent source of vitamin – C that can prevent
cellular damage of our body. Minerals and
vitamins found in amla fruit acts as antioxidant
for human body and gives glow to the skin.
Amla juice is well-known for health hair
growth also prevent hair fall (Yokozawa, et al.,
2007). In several studies, amla fruit have
found to be one of the important fruit and play
crucial role in the control of cancerous cell
(Khan, 2009). It may also protect our boy from
oxidative damage. High blood pressure and
cardio-vascular diseases can also be control
using fresh fruit and by-product of the amla. In
several studies related to Ayurveda, amla fruits
have been found to be one of the potent
immunity boosters and provide strength to the
peoples for optimizing the immunity level up
to certain level.
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