NUTRIENT COMPOSITION OF Piper umbellatum Linn LEAVES

Piper umbellatum Linn (cowfoot) is a perennial herb or scrambling shrub that originates from tropical America, and is now widely naturalized in tropical rain forest in Africa. Piper umbellatum Linn have been used as spice and in herbal medicine for treating and managing diverse ailments. This study evaluated the nutrient composition of Piper umbellatum leaves using standard analytical methods. The outcome showed that phenyalalanine (19.54±0.06g/100g) was the major abundant essential amino acid while glutamic acid (23.47±0.03g/100g) was the major non essential amino acid. Fatty acid compositions shows 33.39 ± 078% saturated fatty acid with tricosylic acid (7.04±0.03%) as the predominant fatty acid. Monounsaturated fatty acid composition was 36.72 ± 0.66%  with Oleic acid (15.47±0.17%) as the predominant fatty acid and  poly unsaturated fatty acid having a total of 7.11 ± 0.24% with eicosatetraenoic acid (3.61 ± 0.01) being the predominant fatty acid. Vitamin composition also showed higher concentration of vitamin C (150.36±1.26mg/100g) and appreciable amount of Vitamin A (38.20±0.14IU). The result of the present study therefore revealed that Piper umbellatum Linn leaves contain substantial quantity of amino acids, vitamins and fatty acid and possess medicinal value.