Influence of Drying Condition on Nutritional and Chemical Profile of Garcinia pedunculata Roxb. Fruit

Abstract

Background Garcinia pedunculata (GP) Roxb. is a traditional medicinal plant used for treating gastrointestinal disorders. The fruit is always consumed in dried form in cuisines and as medicine. Objectives To study the effect of drying conditions (shade, oven, and traditional sun drying) on the nutritional profile of GP while assessing the choice of solvent extraction for the maximum phytocompounds extraction; their in vitro biological activities and chemical profiling. Materials and Methods The fruits were cut into thin 0.9 ± 0.3 cm slices and dried in the shade (25–30°C), sun (34–40°C), and oven (70–80°C). The extraction was done using methanol, hydromethanol, ethanol, hydroethanol, and water. HPLC and LC-ESI-MS/MS were used to identify the bioactive compounds. Results In this study, the impact of three drying conditions has been investigated and established that shade-dried (ShD) has a better-preserved nutritional profile. In terms of phytochemical extraction, comparatively higher amounts of phenols (394.00 ± 12.28 mg Gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g of dried sample) and flavonoids (72.62 ± 2.06 mg Quercetin/g of dried sample) were recorded in the shade-dried hydromethanolic extract (ShDMH), which was directly in line with the better antioxidant activity (IC50 for 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 647.99 ± 7.66 µg/mL, 2,2’-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline)6-sulfonic acid (ABTS), 762.02 ± 18.74 µg/mL) and enzyme-inhibitory potential (IC50 for α- glucosidase 1908.06 ± 13.26 µg/mL and for lipase 613.59 ± 7.57 µg/mL) of this extract. Conclusion The conclusive evidence from this study indicates that shade drying and extraction with hydromethanolic solvent preserves most of the nutritional components and has a higher extraction yield with well-conserved phytochemical composition. Also, these bioactive compounds such as hydroxycitric acid, GB-1a, garcinone A, 9-hydroxycalabaxanthone, chlorogenic acid, and garcinol are present in these extracts. This fruit, although beneficial is still underutilized, and this outcome is believed to be significantly valuable for the further aspects of GP fruit-based nutraceutical or phytopharmaceutical development.