Abstract
The kudzu root is one of the earliest medicinal plants listed in traditional Chinese medicine. In this paper, chemical compositions changes of kudzu roots from one year old to five years old were analyzed with respect to puerarin, acid-insoluble polysaccharides, acid-soluble polysaccharides, reducing sugar, protein, free amino acids, and lipid. In addition, the puerarin content was determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. The results showed that acid-soluble polysaccharides content of kudzu root increased with each growth period. In contrast, the acid-insoluble polysaccharides decreased significantly. The contents of reducing sugar and puerarin in kudzu root decreased significantly during its growth period. Beyond that, the contents of protein, free amino acids, and lipid in kudzu root ranged from 31.8 to 45.8 g/kg, 2.21 to 4.33 g/kg, and 32.2 to 76.9 g/kg, respectively. The trend of protein content coincided with the total content of free amino acids, in contrast to lipid. This paper provides a set of data and the select of kudzu root for the processing and development of new products of kudzu root.
Highlights
There are 17 recognized types of kudzu root derived from perennial leguminous plants, which originate from China and have been a part of Chinese culture for bimillennium
It is clear that puerarin can be detected and the amounts of puerarin content exist in kudzu root during growth period
According to the analysis of molecular structure of puerarin, it might be speculated that the puerarin content has relation with reducing sugar of kudzu root
Summary
There are 17 recognized types of kudzu root derived from perennial leguminous plants, which originate from China and have been a part of Chinese culture for bimillennium. It is common that the kudzu root was used to cure various ailments and disorders from 1600 AD to 1867 AD [1]. Winberry and Jones have reported that this kudzu root is first introduced to the United States as an ornamental plant [2]. Due to the fact that the puerarin products belong to healthy organic food, the research of kudzu root is meaningful. It is known that kudzu root has a lot of nutritional values. Kudzu root contains 14∼35% starch content [3]. Puerarin and daidzein are two major bioactive isoflavones constituents of kudzu root [4]. Most studies have shown that isoflavones can cure hypertension, angina pectoris, cardiovascular diseases, anoxia, and cerebral ischemia and control alcoholism and alcohol abuse [5,6,7]
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