A comparative study on the inhibitory effects of different parts and chemical compositions of pomegranate on α-amylase and α-glucosidase.

Antony Kam, Kong M. Li, Valentina Razmovski-Naumovski, Srinivas Name, Jeffrey Shi, Kelvin Chan, George Q. Li*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Pomegranate has been documented for the management of diabetes in Unani and Chinese medicine. This study compared the effects of the extracts of different pomegranate parts, including juice, peels, seeds and flowers, on carbohydrate digestive enzymes (α-amylase and α-glucosidase) in vitro. The methanolic flower extract inhibited α-amylase and α-glucosidase, while the methanolic peel extract inhibited α-glucosidase selectively. The most active flower extract was subjected to water-ethyl acetate partition. The ethyl acetate fraction was more potent than the water fraction in inhibiting both enzymes. Gallic acid and ellagic acid also showed selective inhibition against α-glucosidase, and their presence in the ethyl acetate fraction was confirmed by HPLC-DAD and HPLC-HESI-MS. Our findings suggest that the inhibition of carbohydrate digestive enzymes and their phenolic content may contribute to the anti-hyperglycaemic effects of pomegranate flower and peel, and support their claims in diabetes.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1614-1620
JournalPhytotherapy Research
Volume27
Issue number11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 19 Dec 2012

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