BIOACTIVE SUBSTANCES AND THEIR POTENTIAL THERAPEUTIC PROPERTIES OF SORGHUM [SORGHUM BICOLOR (L) MOENCH]

Abstract

Sorghum is one of the important dryland C4 crops mainly grown in sub-saharan Africa and Asia and serves as a source of food, feed, fodder and biofuel. It is the main source of dry season ration to the livestock and provides nutrition and security for livelihood of poor farmers in rural areas. Sorghum can withstand drought and comes up well in adverse climatic conditions and hence, it is considered as an important climate resilient crop. Sorghum possesses diverse phytochemicals especially in the bran layer which represents a promising opportunity to be exploited as a functional food and to reduce the risk of non – communicable chronic diseases. Owing to high phenolic content and gluten free nature of sorghum and low glycemic index the grains are increasingly utilized for human consumption realising concept of eat right food for good health. Red sorghum bran is known as a rich source of anthocyanins. The bran and flour extracts analysis using various colorimetric methods including HPLC (High Pressure Liquid Chromatography) found with presence of several phenolic compounds like anthocyanins particularly 3-deoxyanthocyanin that includes apignenidin and luteolinidin, condensed tannin, ferulic acidetc., which provide the therapeutic properties of antioxidant, anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, prevention of cardiovascular diseases. The data collected from recent studies indicate that these molecules have a promising future as natural biofood agents for the treatment of various diseases, and this is particularly due to their strong antioxidant properties, in addition to modulating the intestinal microbiota. This review is made to understand the bioactive substances present in sorghum grains, their extraction and their potential therapeutic effects.