Chemical Profile, Amino Acid Characteristics and Phytochemical Study of Mentha Piperita Leaf Protein Concentrates

Abstract

Protein malnutrition is one of the global nutritional problems encountered in the less developed countries of the world, prompting researchers to search for alternative dietary protein sources that would alleviate problems of protein shortage and could also provide, to a certain extent, some important medicinal purposes. The leaves of the plant were washed with distilled water to remove dust, authenticated at the forest research institute Jericho Ibadan and processed for leaf protein concentrates to evaluate for proximate composition, mineral content, phytochemical analysis and amino acid profile using the standard method of analysis. The results of proximate analysis of the sample in g/100g showed moisture content (12.58±0.053), Ash (2.14±0.061), Fat (15.67±0.031), Crude protein (43.78±0.031), Crude fat (17.23±0.071) and Carbohydrate (8.58±0.113). The mineral composition of the sample had 0.19±0.00mg/g of magnesium, Na; 41.382±0.35mg/g, Fe; 1.292±0.002, K; 9.098±0.02, Fe; 1.293±0.00mg/g, Zn; 0.013±0.00mg/g, Cr; 0.026±0.00mg/g phosphorus; 19.520±0.29 Ni; 0.001±0.00, Cd; 0.0143±0.00mg/g, while lead and selenium were not detected in the sample. The results of the phytochemical analysis showed the presence of Tannin, Saponin, Alkaloids, Flavonoids, and phenol in reasonable amounts, revealing that the sample would possess certain important medicinal characteristics. The amino acid content of the samples showed valuable essential and non-essential amino acids. It is evident from the study that the leaf protein concentrates from Mentha piperita plants' source of nutrients, phytochemicals, and essential and non-essential amino acids, indicating that the plant could still be classified as nutraceuticals apart from cosmeceuticals due to the concentration of phytochemicals and nutritive parameters of the sample.