Bioactive components and beneficial nutritive properties of sweet sorghum juice from Indian cultivars

Sweet sorghum juice is beneficial in terms of nutritive properties like bioactive components, including various phytochemicals, with some acting as potential antioxidants, inorganic and organic components like minerals, sugars, and proteins. The current study examines seven Indian cultivars of sweet sorghum for their bioactive components, which are essential nutritive supplements imparting health benefits, to commercialize sweet sorghum juice as an energy drink. The juice was sweet due to the presence of carbohydrates, in the range of 1.4-5.8 g/100 ml reducing monosaccharides, 6.3-11.3 g/100 ml sucrose and 20.6-65.3 mg/100 ml starch. The bioactive components in sweet sorghum juice among the seven varieties were phenols (39.8-68 mg/100 ml gallic acid equivalents), flavonoids (29.3-65.4 mg/100 ml quercetin equivalents), tannins (0.135-0.423 g/100 ml catechin equivalents) and antioxidants (11.2-17.2 mg ascorbic acid equivalent antioxidant capacity/100 ml). The protein constitution of juice was in the range of 37.1-53.1 mg/100 ml. CSV 19 SS showed higher phytochemical and carbohydrate content among the seven varieties. Sweet sorghum juice was found to be rich in potassium, sodium, phosphorous and iron with moderate zinc and manganese. Sweet sorghum juice has four times more bioactive components than sugarcane juice, showing its competent antioxidative power. This study suggests the potential of sweet sorghum juice as a natural energy drink with additional benefits of phytochemicals and minerals to use in treatment of various ailments.