Physicochemical Strategies to Lower Bitterness in Neem Plant: A Tree of 21st Century for Diabetes Management - Abstract
In this era, nutritional related diseases are highly prevalent all across the globe with Pakistan being on 3rd position after China and India in prevalence
of diabetes. According to International Diabetes Federation Report (2022) about 26.7% of adult population is diabetic in Pakistan and this alarming situation
calls for some sustainable solutions from local resources. In this regards, plants and herbs with medicinal properties are used as effective treatment for diabetes.
Among assorted herbal paragon, Azadirachta indica commonly called as Neem has been recognized as an effective and assessable botanical source to curtail
the situation. It belongs to family Meliaceae, and is found in South-East Asian countries including India, Pakistan, Nepal & Bangladesh. It has been recognized
as a highly esteemed tree of this century with innumerable hidden potential for mankind in terms of its numerous valuable therapeutic properties. The active
biological compounds present in different fractions of neem plant represent its activity. Along with the plethora of valuable properties neem plant exhibit,
one undesirable aspect i.e. its bitterness hinders its utilization in mainstream of food products. The phytochemical composition of different parts of neem plant
represents different level of bitterness and this property was the area under investigation in the present project. Purposely, all the parts of neem plant were
quantified for their phytochemical content and antioxidant activity. Different debittering strategies were applied such as stir frying, citric acid solution, boiling
and sodium hydroxide solution for various parts of neem plant and their effect on lowering the bitterness was assessed by estimating the bitter compounds as
well as adding in model food system. Moreover, extracts from all the neem plant parts were also developed using aqueous and organic solvents. The extracts
were prepared from the debittered fractions of neem plant parts and were analysed for their phytochemical composition on qualitative as well as quantitative
basis. The findings have shown that bitterness in all fractions of neem plant was reduced significantly, and the products were also acceptable in terms of their
organoleptic properties.