Potential prospects of Miliusa tomentosa an underexploited wild edible fruit

Abstract:

The search for indigenous diets and utilization of wild edible fruits has increased considerably in the recent years. The inadequate dietary diversity of the global food system had led to nutritional inadequacy in terms of malnutrition and hidden hunger to a broad concern. The need of wild edible fruit resources coupled with indigenous knowledge, mode of consumption and their nutritional assessment may serve as an alternate to attain food and nutritional security. The current study reports for the first time the ethnobotanical values, nutritional properties and profiling of bioactive compounds of Miliusa tomentosa fruits. The nutritional analysis of M. tomentosa fruits revealed the presence of appreciable amount of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, calorific value with other nutrients and vitamins which accentuates and makes them indispensable potential in combating over malnutrition. Structural elucidation of bioactive constituents of the ethanolic fruit extract was carried out by different analytical technique. In GC-MS analysis, about 30 therapeutically significant compounds were detected. From FTIR spectral analysis, it was found that the extract possesses wide range of functional groups such as alcohols, phenols, aliphatic and aromatic compounds. The findings of the study evinced that M. tomentosa fruits encompasses potential nutritional value with bioactive compounds which can be further analyzed for their candidature in terms of therapeutic efficacy and it can play a decisive role in nutritional security.