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Review of the Antioxidant Properties of Wild Edible Plants in Ethiopia

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Review of the Antioxidant Properties of Wild Edible Plants in Ethiopia Vol. 19(6), pp. 84-102, September 2020 DOI: 10.5897/AJMHS2019.0082 Article Number: 06ADAE264795 ISSN: 2384-5589 Copyright ©2020 African Journal of Medical and Health Author(s) retain the copyright of this article http://www.academicjournals.org/AJMHS Sciences Review Review of the antioxidant properties of wild edible plants in Ethiopia Nigussie Amsalu1,2* and Zemede Asfaw1 1 Department of Biology, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Addis Ababa University, P O Box 3434, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 2 Department of Biology, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Debre Markos University, P.O. Box 269, Debre Markos, Ethiopia. Received 13 December 2019 Accepted 15 June, 2020 This work aims to study the potential and importance of wild edible plants (WEPs) as antioxidants in treating different diseases caused by free radicals. A total of 67 species belonging to 50 genera under 36 families and naturally growing in Ethiopia were recorded after assessing all available documents. About 16.2% of the total (413) WEPs were recorded in the country. The plant families with more number of species known to have antioxidants are Amaranthaceae and Moraceae 7 species each. Fruits are the dominant edible parts followed by leaves. Compounds such as tannins, oxalates and phenolic acids are the major contributors to the antioxidant activity of vegetables, fruits and medicinal plants. Plants also have many phytochemicals which are a potential source of natural antioxidants such as phenolic diterpenes, flavonoids, flavonols, alkaloids, iridoids and saponins, High consumption of fruits and vegetables is associated with a lowered occurrence of cancer, heart disease, inflammation, arthritis, neurodegenerative diseases and diabetes. Antioxidant components including vitamin C, vitamin E, carotenoid, and plant polyphenols appeared to play a key role in reducing the development of such diseases. This review gives a general overview of the antioxidant properties of different parts of WEPs in a single volume and ease selection of the best species for further research. The chemical composition, antioxidant contents and energy values of wild plants consumed by Ethiopians indicated that they provide key nutrients such as carbohydrates minerals and vitamins. The plants will be lost along with their valuable nutrients and indigenous knowledge without proper management and conservation in the right places and habitats. Keywords: antioxidant, Ethiopia, health benefit, phytochemicals, wild edible plants. INTRODUCTION It is indicated that wild plants used as leafy vegetables vegetables and fruits contain antioxidants such as and fruits have recently attracted attention as sources of vitamins (β-carotene, vitamins C and E) and polyphenols natural antioxidants. Many of these wild-collected (flavonoids, tannins, catechins) (Wong et al., 2006). *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]. Author(s) agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License Amsalu and Asfaw 85 Epidemiological studies have shown that a diet rich in present the review of information found in published vegetables and fruits can reduce the incidence of journals, databases, books, proceedings, and other cardiovascular diseases, inflammation, arthritis, immune relevant documents. In short, the data on antioxidant related diseases and certain cancers (Block et al., 1992; properties of Ethiopian wild edible plants were Krishan et al., 2014). systematically gathered and compiled after assessing Plants used in foods like fruits, vegetables and whole accessible documents. Analysis was made by using grains contain many components beneficial to human descriptive statistics to generate graphs, tables, charts, health. Research supports that some of these foods, as central tendencies, and percentages. part of an overall healthful diet, have the potential to delay the onset of many age-related diseases and these have further led to continued research aimed at REVIEW AND ANALYSIS ON WILD EDIBLE PLANTS identifying dietary bioactive components including AS SOURCES OF ANTIOXIDANTS antioxidants, which may be responsible for improving and maintaining health (Knight, 2000). Overview of antioxidant plants Plants which have high amounts of vitamins or carotenoids also have high antioxidant activities Studies have shown that phenolic compounds were (Chanwitheesuk et al., 2005). Many compounds (for having linkages with antioxidant activity of the plants. example, vitamins C and E, carotenoids, chlorophyll Thus, improved health and nutrition can be achieved not derivatives, alkaloids, flavonoids, phenolic acids, and only by the consumption of fruits and vegetables having other phenol) of higher plants are associated with high antioxidant capacities but also from the medicinal antioxidants properties. Plant extracts also contain other herbs (Atawodi, 2005). According to Amoo et al. (2012), types of antioxidants derived from secondary metabolites medicinal plants are sources of antioxidant compounds including volatile oils and carotenoids. that can be used in food preparation and pharmaceutical Antioxidants are compounds that result in the formulations. Fruits are a significant part of the human neutralization of free radicals and simultaneous oxidation diet, providing fiber, minerals, vitamins, and other inhibition of other vital molecules (Sies, 1996). They beneficial compounds such as antioxidants. Edible undergo oxidation terminating the chain by reacting with berries are a potential source of natural anthocyanin free radicals and chelating catalytic metals. Free radicals antioxidants and have shown a broad spectrum of are mainly derived from oxygen (reactive oxygen species, biomedical functions (Charles, 2013). ROS) and nitrogen (reactive nitrogen species, RNS) and generated in the human body by various endogenous systems, exposure to different physicochemical Sources of natural antioxidants and their activities conditions (such as exposure to ultraviolet light and toxic chemicals), inflammatory or pathophysiological states Large numbers of plant sources including many (He and Hader, 2002). Free radicals contribute to the vegetables and fruits have been explored for their reduction of risks associated with cardiovascular and antioxidant potential (Krishna et al., 2014). There are degenerative diseases through the reduction of oxidative several sources of natural antioxidants, such as herbs stress and counteraction of macromolecular oxidation. and spices. Moreover, there are other natural products The ethnobotanical profile of wild plants consumed in such as cereals, nuts, oilseeds, legumes, vegetables, Ethiopia and their antioxidant activities, phytochemical animal products and microbial products which can serve constituents, method of standardization and dietary as rich sources of natural antioxidants (Charles, 2013). intake needs reviewing. The main objective of this review The richest sources of polyphenols are various spices was to document and provide information on the potential and dried herbs, cocoa products, some darkly colored wild edible plants as antioxidants to the local berries, some seeds (flaxseed) and nuts (chestnut, communities of Ethiopia. In addition, this work suggests hazelnut), and some vegetables, including olive and to document the available information on the antioxidant globe artichoke heads with contents varying from 15,000 properties of wild edible plants in the country to pinpoint mg/100 g in cloves to 10 mg/100 mL in rose wine. The existing gaps in research. Thus, this review bridges the same author further explains that banana, custard apple, information gaps regarding the antioxidant potentials of orange, lemon, guava, and papaya were found to be very wild edible plants. Taking into account these facts, rich in ascorbic acid. Among vegetables, capsicum antioxidant activities of wild edible plants and their (green sweet pepper), cauliflower, bitter gourd, round ethnobotanical information were reviewed to show their gourd, beetroot, spinach, cabbage, and radish contained antioxidant potentials. high concentrations of ascorbic acid. Plants, including The paper shall make available information scattered in herbs and spices have many phytochemicals which are a different sources to inform the public, herbalists, natural potential source of natural antioxidant, e.g., phenolic product researchers and other users. In this paper, we diterpenes, flavonoids, alkaloids, tannins and phenolic 86 Afr. J. Med. Health Sci. acids. Natural antioxidants are known to protect cells reproduction. They are no longer only fortuitously formed from damage induced by oxidative stress, which is chemicals that serve mankind as pharmaceuticals and generally considered as being a cause of aging, pesticides. In conclusion, secondary metabolites can degenerative diseases, and cancer (Kim et al., 2011). provide a local or a systemic defense response to Reports noted that medicinal plants are an important pathogen and herbivore attack. source of antioxidants. Natural antioxidants increase the antioxidant capacity of the plasma and reduce the risk of certain diseases such as cancer, heart diseases, and Dietary intake of polyphenols and antioxidants stroke. The secondary metabolites like phenolics and flavonoids have been reported to be potent free radical It was postulated that estimated daily flavonoid and scavengers. These secondary metabolites are found in phenolic intake at approximately one gram per day,
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