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Amino Acid and Fatty Acid Profile of Twenty Wild Plants Used as Spices in Cameroon

Armand Abdou Bouba1,, Roger Ponka2, Goudoum Augustin2, Nicolas Njintang Yanou3, Mehanni Abul-Hamd El-Sayed4, Didier Montet5, Joël Scher1, Carl Moses Mbofung6

1Laboratory of Engineering and Biomolecules (LiBio), Nancy-University, Nancy, France

2Department of Agriculture, Livestock and Derivate Products, University of Maroua, Maroua, Cameroon

3Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Ngaoundere, Ngaoundere, Cameroon

4Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Faculty of Agriculture, Sohag University, Sohag, Egypt

5CIRAD, Montpellier, France

6Department of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Bamenda, Bamenda, Cameroon

American Journal of Food Science and Technology. 2016, 4(2), 29-37. DOI: 10.12691/ajfst-4-2-1
Published online: August 25, 2017

Abstract

The amino acids and fatty acids of twenty wild plants used as spices which were collected in Cameroon were investigated. The most important of total non-essential amino acids (TNEAA) contents have been found in A. daniellii (52.04%), C. frutescens (50.53%), D. psilurus (56.22%), H. gabonii (fruit) (58.81%), P. brazzeana (59.11%), S. melongena (59.78 %) and X. aethiopica (56.78%), respectively. Concerning the levels of the essential amino acids (EAA), all had EAA contents of at least 30% except E. giganteus (17.85 %), S. melongena (27.05 %), and T. tetraptera (15.85 %). For WHO protein standard, Lysine was considered as the first limiting amino acid (LAA) for A. daniellii (1.54%), P. brazzeana (16.35%) and S. striatinux (40.19 %). In addition, Meth+Cys were the second LAA for D. psilurus, E. giganteus, S. melongena, S. zenkeri (fruit), T. tetraptera, X. aethiopica (non detected); H. gabonii (fruit) (29.2%), M. myristica (6%), M. whitei (8.8 %) and P. guineense (39.2%), respectively. Spices which contained a large amounts of the essential fatty acids (ω – 3) were found in C. frutescens (31.98%), F. leprieuri (40.07 %), H. gabonii (fruit) (34.84 %), M. whitei (54.77%), P. umbellatum (39.25%), S. melongena (34.23%), S. zenkeri (fruit) (35.68%), and T. tetraptera (33.64%), respectively. Furthermore, (ω – 6) were found in D. psilurus (49.29%), H gabonii (bark) (47.91%) and F. xanthoxyloides (43.79%). In addition, (C22: 6n3) were S. zenkeri (bark) (20.45%) and X. aethiopica (30.10 %). These results show that tropical edible plants could contribute significantly to the diets of indigenous population in sub-Saharan Africa and should provide their public health.

Keywords:

spices, amino acid, fatty acid, wild plant, WHO
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