• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.74-81
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• 1995

In the proximate composition of the yams of home product, wild yam was most abundant in crude lipid and crude protein, and those content in the cultivated yams, cultivated long yam and cultivated short yam were similar. Cultivated long yam is the richest in crude ash. African yam had more crude lipid and crude protein compare to those of home product yams. Especially, the amount of crude lipid in African yam was four-fold of home product yams. In the mineral content, Ca was the richest mineral in four kinds of yam. The rest of mineral were in order of Fe, Mn and Zn. Among the home product yams, the Ca content of wild yam was higher than that of cultivated yam. The contents of Fe, Mn and Zn were also high in wild yam compared to cultivated yam. In the composition of free sugars, the sucrose content is the highest in wild yam, cultivated short yam and African yam. in order The fructose content was the most abundant in cultivated long yam and the next was sucrose. The composition of free fatty acids were in order of lactobacillic acid, palmitic acid and palmitoleic acid. Crude saponin contents of the home products were almost similar levle, but crude saponin of wild yam was more abundant than that of cultivated yam. And crude saponin of African yam was much more abundant compared that of other home product yams. there is not much difference in the kinds of saponin from the home product yams. However, the amount of each saponin from the home product yams was different. In case of African yam, 'b' saponin did not appear and 'e' saponin was higher compared with home product yams. In African yam, the bitter taste from ethyl acetate layer was the strongest, and the next was n-butanol layer. It is possible that there was a powerful UV absorption material in the bitter taste of ethyl acetate layer and also supposed that there were saponin and phenol is material.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.107-117
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the antioxidant and anticholinesterase activities of yellow and white bitter yams from South Western Nigeria using methanolic extraction and simulated gastrointestinal digestion models. The phenolic compounds in the bitter yam varieties were evaluated by high performance liquid chromatography with a diode array detector (HPLC-DAD). The total phenolic content of the bitter yams was measured by the Folin-Ciocalteu method, reductive potential by assessing the ability of the bitter yam to reduce $FeCl_3$ solution, and the antioxidant activities were determined by the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical ($DPPH^{\cdot}$) scavenging activity, 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) radical cation ($ABTS^{{\cdot}+}$) scavenging activity, nitric oxide radical ($NO^{\cdot}$) scavenging ability, hydroxyl radical scavenging ability, and ability to inhibit $Fe^{2+}$-induced lipid oxidation. The HPLC-DAD analysis revealed the presence of some phenolic compounds in the studied bitter yam varieties, with varying degree of quantitative changes after cooking. The antioxidant indices (total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, reducing power, $DPPH^{\cdot}$ scavenging activity, $ABTS^{{\cdot}+}$ scavenging activity, and $NO^{\cdot}$ scavenging activity) were higher in the simulated gastrointestinal digestion model compared to the methanolic extract, with the in vitro digested cooked white bitter yam ranking higher. Similarly, the in vitro digested yams had a higher inhibitory action against lipid oxidation compared to the methanolic extracts, with the cooked white bitter yam ranking high. The methanolic extracts and in vitro enzyme digests showed no acetylcholinesterase inhibitory abilities, while methanolic extracts and the in vitro enzyme digest displayed some level of butyrylcholinesterase inhibitory activities. Therefore the studied bitter yams could be considered as possible health supplements.