Phytochemicals Screening and Nutritional Profile of Cnidosculus aconitflius Leaves collected in Birnin Kebbi, Nigeria

Abstract

Plants materials contained some bio-active ingredients which help in treating of so many diseases and also provide vital components for human and animal nutrition. Preliminary phytochemical screening and some nutritional profile of Cnidoscolus aconitofolius leaves were investigated in this study. The dry leaves of Cnidoscolus aconitofolius were subjected to proximate, vitamins and mineral contents analysis. Furthermore, the samples were subjected to soxlet extraction using methanol and water of different polarities for qualitative phytochemical screening. The preliminary qualitative phytochemical screening revealed the presence of phenols, flavonoids, alkaloids, terpenoids, saponins, steroids and absence of tannins respectively. Among the proximate composition carbohydrate was found to be high (65.54%), followed by crude fat (13.33%) and ash (12.08%), while moisture, proteins and crude fibre were 0.67%, 5.55% and 2.83 % respectively. The results showed that the sample contained 18.12mg/100g vitamin A and 15.20mg/100g vitamin C concentrations. The levels of some selected mineral elements of public health important are Potassium 378.62mg/100g, Sodium 82.02mg/100g, Phosphorus 5.73mg/100g, Magnesium 1.72mg/100g, Iron 1.02mg/100g, Calcium 1.02mg/100g, Copper 0.30mg/100g, Zinc 1.14mg/100g and Manganese with 0.08mg/100g respectively. This study revealed that the leaves of Cnidoscolus aconitifolius contained some phytochemicals constituents of medicinal importance. The nutritional compositions also showed an appreciable amount of vitamin A and C and some minerals elements. Therefore, the plant may be considered as a good source of macro and micro-nutrients of potential nutritional importance.