IJHS
Interprofessional Journal of Health Sciences
formerly Bulletin of Health, Science and Technology (BHST)
https://ijhs.rsu.ac.th
ISSN (Print) 2672-9628
ISSN (Online) 2672-9423
Interprofessional Journal of Health Sciences. Vol.12 No.1 , January - June 2014.
EVALUATION OF NUTRIENT AND MINERAL CONTENT OF THE LEAVES OF PHLOGACANTHUS PULCHERRIMUS CULTIVATED IN THAILAND
Suchada Jongrungruangchok , Thanapat Songsak , and Supakit Wongwiwatthananukit
Abstract
Phlogacanthus pulcherrimus (T. Anderson), a medicinal plant in Acanthaceae family, has been traditionally used in Thai herbal medicine as
diuretics and a nutritional supplement or tonic. The objective of this study was to determine the proximate composition and constituent minerals of P. pulcherrimus leaves from 6 different agro-climatic regions distributed in Thailand. By the nutrition value assessment, the content of protein, fat, fiber, and moisture. were found in the range of 3.68-4.17%;0.83-1.22%; 3.47-5.35%, and; 81.20-84.59% of moisture respectively; meanwhile the average content of mineral, which are calcium, sodium, potassium, magnesium, chromium and iron were 105.60, 2.24, 71.24, 86.28, 0.13, and 1.23 mg/100 g, respectively. The results revealed that P. pulcherrimus leaves indigenous to different agro-climatic regions of Thailand contained an appreciable amount of nutrients and might be used as a good supplement for minerals.
Keywords: Phlogacanthus pulcherrimus, proximate analysis, mineral content