Profiles of nutritional, bioactive compounds and cytotoxic activity of Dwarf date palm (Phoenix loureiroi) fruit

The wild edible fruits are basic food sources and these contain potential dietary compounds which provide a healthy diet. Such wild edible fruits play an important role in supplementing the diet and livelihood of rural/tribal communities. Thus, the present study determined the nutritive values of Phoenix loureiroi fruit by screening the phytochemical compounds, organic acids and polyphenolics along with the evaluation of cytotoxic activity. The nutritional composition revealed high contents of total proteins (36.30 mg BSAE/g dry fruit), total free amino acids (6.15 mg LE/g dry fruit), reducing sugars (85.40 mg GE/g dry fruit), vitamin E (2.50 mg TE/g dry fruit) and sodium (1.26 mg/g dry fruit) at Rutab stage of maturation. Anti-nutritional compositions of fruit were found to be chymotrypsin inhibitors (3.31 CIU/mg protein), trypsin inhibitors (0.01 TIU/mg protein) and phytate (0.42 g phytate/100 g dry fruit) contents. High-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) separation demonstrated that fruit contains a high amount of essential (tryptophan, 41.30 mg/g dry fruit) and non-essential (tyrosine, 25.70 mg/g dry fruit) amino acids. The total phenolics concentration was found to be 49.68 mg GAE/100 g dry fruit. Liquid chromatography analyses revealed that the fruit contained high amounts of fructose (0.12 mg/g dry fruit), ascorbic acid (2.80 mg/g dry fruit), catechin (3.78 mg/g dry fruit) and succinic acid (1.57 mg/g dry fruit). The bioactive compounds of fruit extract inhibited the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical (IC50 = 8.51 mu g/mL). The cell viability value (65.87%) on fibroblast L929 cell lines indicates fruit extract was safe up to 1000 mu g/mL concentration. The results revealed that the P. loureiroi fruit was rich in nutraceutical compounds and could be used for the development of safe natural products.