Syzygium cumini (L.) SKEELS: A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF NUTRACEUTICALS

Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels, commonly known as Jamun, is a widely distributed forest tree in India and other tropical and sub tropical regions of the world. The tree has a great economic importance since most of the parts like the bark, leaves, seed and fruits are used as an alternative medicine to treat various diseases. It is used in well known traditional medicines to control the blood sugar level in the patients suffering from diabetes. The tree is rich in phytochemicals like glycoside jambolin, anthocyanins, tannins, terpenoids, gallic acid and various minerals. These wide ranges of health promoting compounds make them a suitable candidate to be used as a nutraceutical. The fruits are purplish black in colour when ripe and have high anthocyanin content. It is a seasonal fruit and is consumed fresh for its nutrient value. Fruits are also processed to make jam, jellies, squash, vinegar and ice cream for its beautiful and attractive purple colour. There are many commercial herbal brands in India and other Asian countries which manufacture these products and are very popular among the consumers. Even though there has been a number of successful research on the medicinal properties of S. cumini extracts in animal models and in vitro animal cell lines there are no reports on clinical trial experiments to study the in vivo effect of the phytochemicals on human beings. We suggest that there is a need to do further research and study the suitability of this tree extracts as a nutraceutical.