Nutritive values, dietary antioxidant and seed protein profile of some underutilized seeds and nuts from ethnic sources

Abstract

Study with seven unrelated and diverse type of non-conventional seeds and nuts, viz. Trapa natans, Nymphaea nouchali,Euryle ferox, Castanopsis argentea, Artocarpus heterophyllus, Nelumbo nucifera and Gnetum gnemon revealed thatthey are rich in nutritive values and high in calorific values. Crude protein content varied from 4.40-32.08%; carbohydratecontent varied from 38.66-77.50%. With calorific values in the range of 317.78 Kcal/100g to 376.62 Kcal/100g, these are highcalorie food with low lipid in the range of 0.93% to 6.74%. They are also rich in dietary antioxidant phenolics which variedwidely from 1.0-17.6 mg/g. The free amino acid content varied from 4.0-10.66 mg/g. Present study show that that nonconventionalseeds and nuts are very rich in nutrient content