Compositional Evaluation of Bitter Melon (Momordica charantia) Fruit and Fruit Pulp of Ebony Tree (Diospyros mespiliformis)

Abstract

In this study, proximate, mineral, amino acid and anti–nutrient compositions of Mormodica charantia fruit and Diospyros mespiliformis fruit pulp were determined using standard analytical techniques. The respective proximate composition values (g/100 g sample) of M. charantia and D. mespiliformis were: Moisture (3.88 and 4.64), ash (5.22 and 5.5.13), crude protein (20.36 and 4.68), crude fibre (8.41 and 3.58), ether extract (4.39 and 2.00), and carbohydrate by difference (57.56 and 79.68). The calculated fatty acids and metabolizable energy for M. charantia and D. mespiliformis were (3.51 and 1.60 %) and (148.07 and 1508.12 kJ/100 g). The most abundant minerals were Na (612.42 and 425.21 mg/100 g) followed by Na (521.71 and 368.25 mg/100g), respectively. Generally, the two samples were found to be good sources of essential minerals. The levels of Na/K and Ca/Mg ratios were desirable compared with recommended values. The amino acid profiles revealed that both samples contained nutritionally useful quantities of most of the essential amino acids with total essential amino acid (TEAA) (with His) were 34.38 and 22.37 g/100 g for Mormodica charantia and Diospyros mespiliformis, respectively. However, essential amino acid supplementation may be required in dietary formula except Ile and Leu in Mormodica charantia and Met + Cys and Val in Diospyros mespiliformis when comparing the essential amino acids (EAAs) in this report with the recommended FAO/WHO provisional pattern. Met + Cys (TSAA) was the first limiting amino acids (LAA) for the two plant fruits. The study showed that Mormodica charantia and Diospyros mespiliformis can be better sources of some of the essential nutrients with potential health beneficial constituents than some of the members of the family to which they belong. However, some of the anti–nutrient contents may pose nutritional problems in their consumption.