Articles

Nutritional and Nutraceutical Potentials of Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus)

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Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) is a Poaceae family perennial grass that yields essential oil. The prefix ‘lemon’ refers to the odour, which is mostly owing to the presence of citral, a cyclic monoterpene. It is a rapidly growing and native to South India and Sri Lanka that is now widely cultivated throughout tropical America and Asia. The essential oil is used medicinally which is derived from freshly cut and slightly dried leave. Lemongrass has recently gained global prominence due to its extensive industrial applications. It also contains a significant amount of flavonoids, essential oils, phenolic compounds, and other phytochemical constituents that have pharmacological properties such as anti-obesity, antibacterial, anti-fungal, anti-nociceptive, anti-oxidants, anti-diarrheal, and anti-inflammatory properties that may improve health.  Numerous studies reported that it might possess the excellent health potentials to cure various communicable and non-communicable diseases.

Nutritional composition of Raw and Roasted Garden Cress Seed (Lepidium sativum L.) Flour

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Background: Garden cress is one of the traditional medicinal plants packed with nutrients. In India, garden cress seeds are consumed either raw or in processed forms. The different processes employed such as roasting may provide palatability, acceptable colour, and texture and raise the nutritional composition.
Methods: The present study was conducted to assess the nutritional composition of raw and roasted garden cress seed flour. Raw garden cress seed flour was developed by drying the seeds in oven at 600C for 45 minutes, followed by grinding and sieving through 60 mesh sieve. Roasted flour was developed by initial roasting of seeds in iron vessel followed by similar procedure as for raw flour. Both flours were stored in air tight containers for further research analysis. In nutritional composition moisture, total ash, crude protein, crude fat, crude fibre, total carbohydrate and physiological energy were assessed for both raw and roasted seed flour.
Results: The result of the nutritional composition for raw and roasted seed flour showed that roasted flour has a higher nutritional composition than raw seed flour. It can be concluded that processing not only improves the shelf life and acceptability but also improves the nutritional composition of flour, which can be helpful to maintain and improve health and nutritional status.