Food Research International 43 (2010) 1505–1510

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Food Research International

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Evaluation of antioxidant capacity, genotoxicity and polyphenol content of non

conventional foods: Prosopis flour
María Luz Cardozo a,b, Roxana Mabel Ordoñez a,b,c, Iris Catiana Zampini a,b,c, Ana Soledad Cuello a,
Graciela Dibenedetto d, María Inés Isla a,b,c,*
a
Instituto de Química del NOA, INQUINOA-CONICET, Ayacucho 471, C.P. 4000, S.M. de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina
b
Facultad de Bioquímica, Química y Farmacia, UNT, Ayacucho 471, C.P. 4000, S.M. de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina
c
Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo, UNT, Miguel Lillo 205, C.P. 4000, S.M. de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina
d
Universidad Nacional de Tucumán es parte de c, Universidad del Norte Santo Tomás de Aquino 9 de Julio 165, C.P. 4000, S.M. de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Fruits such as Prosopis pod have been food sources (patay, arrope, chicha or aloja) of inhabitants of arid
Received 18 December 2009 and semi-arid lands in South America. The aims of the present study were determine some nutritional
Accepted 28 April 2010 and functional properties as well as genotoxicity of flour obtained from Prosopis ripe pods that were sub-
mitted to different processing. Sucrose constituted the main sugar for flours obtained from Prosopis alba
and Prosopis nigra. Decoctions and macerations showed around 2.9% and 1.4% of soluble proteins, respec-
Keywords: tively. The highest free phenolics, flavonoids and condensed tannins contents were observed in aqueous
Prosopis
extractions with heating. None of the samples presented phytic acid levels high enough to constitute a
Legume
Nutritional
nutritional problem. Antioxidant activity (AA) was evaluated by DPPH, ABTS and b-carotene bleaching
Phenolic compounds assays. Results showed that the antioxidant potential was significantly higher in flour obtained from P.
Antioxidant capacity nigra pods than in that from P. alba pods, and it was also higher in aqueous extracts than in alcoholic ones.
Data obtained suggests that compounds responsible for AA are thermostable; therefore, Prosopis flour
might be capable of retaining a significant amount of antioxidant capacity after heating. Prosopis extracts
did not show any mutagenic effect with and without metabolic activation. Prosopis flour proved to be a
non conventional, novel and rich source of antioxidant compounds that could help to prevent pathologies
associated with oxidative stress.
Ó 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Introduction lentil consumption is related to a lower incidence of breast cancer

Antioxidants retard the development of the unpleasant flavour
brought about by the oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids, usually
present as triacylglycerides and/or polar lipids. Nowadays there is
a general trend towards replacing synthetic antioxidants in food
processing with natural oxidation inhibitors or with ingredients
that naturally possess antioxidant activity. Naturally occurring
nutritive and non-nutritive antioxidants have recently become a
major area of scientific research, but it should be kept in mind,
however, that they are not necessarily less toxic than synthetic
compounds.
Leguminous plants are cultivated throughout the world and
consumed in various dishes. Their seeds are a source of many sub-
stances with antioxidant properties, including phenolic com-
pounds. A recent epidemiological study showed that bean and
* Corresponding author. Address: Cátedra de Fitoquímica, Instituto de Estudios
Vegetales, Facultad de Bioquímica, Química y Farmacia, Universidad Nacional de
Tucumán, Ayacucho 471, 4000 – San Miguel de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina. Tel.:
+54 0381 4107220; fax: +54 0381 4248169.
E-mail address: misla@tucbbs.com.ar (M.I. Isla).
(Adebamowo et al., 2005). Soybean and lupin seed have attracted a
lot of attention for their protein content (Sugano, 2006) and antiox-
idant activity (flavonoids, tocopherols, phospholipids, amino acids
and peptides).
The genus Prosopis belongs to the Fabaceae family, subfamily
Mimosoideae and comprises 45 species distributed mainly in arid
and semi-arid, tropical and subtropical countries. Prosopis genera
have been widely studied all over the world for their ecological
value since they are extremely resistant to heat, drought, alkalinity
and salinity. They also contribute to soil stabilization and improve-
ment through nitrogen fixation (Bernardi, 2000). In America,
Prosopis thrives in a large area that goes from the south-western
part of the United States to the Argentinean Patagonia, being char-
acteristic of the Monte desert in Argentina from Salta to Chubut
provinces (Cabrera, 1994).
Several uses have been reported for these species. The exuded
gum produced from the wounds in the bark is comparable to
commercial gum Arabic (Anderson & Farquhar, 1982).
Ripe Prosopis pods and leaves are of economic significance for
ruminant breeding (Abdullah & Abddel hafes, 2004; Obeidat,

0963-9969/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

doi:10.1016/j.foodres.2010.04.004
1506 M.L. Cardozo et al. / Food Research International 43 (2010) 1505–1510
Abdullah, & Al-Lataifeh, 2008) and the wood is an important re-
source for construction, firewood and charcoal (Bogino & Villalba,
2008; Fagg & Stewart, 1994). Prosopis alba fruit is used to dissolve
gallstones, and as an anti-bronchitic and laxative. Its flowers have
diuretic properties; and the bark is used as an astringent and to
heal eye infections (Pasiecznik, Harris, & Smith, 2003; PFNM Data-
base, 2003). Prosopis nigra fruit is commonly used for sore eyes, as
a sedative, and diuretic as well as against venereal diseases, asth-
ma and dyspepsia (Carrizo, Palacio, & Roic, 2002).
Prosopis species fruits constitute a food source for human and
animal of Monte desert (Arenas, 2003; D’Antoni & Solbrig, 1977;
Fagg & Stewart, 1994; Felger, 1977). Different food products are
made from Prosopis species: drinks (añapa, aloja and chicha), syr-
up, flour, sweets (arrope, patay, jam), etc. (Escobar, Estévez, Fuen-
tes, & Venegas, 2009; Odibo, Ezeaku, & Ogbo, 2008; Roig, 1993).
Although Prosopis pod flour (80–100 mesh) and wheat flour have
approximately equal energy and protein contents, wheat flour is
neutral in taste, and it is used for its textural properties in stimu-
lating volume increase, while Prosopis flour does not have gluten
(Felker, Grados, Cruz, & Prokopiuk, 2003; Saunders et al., 1986)
and does not stimulate volume increase, but has a rather sweetish
taste. Prosopis flour has a coffee or cocoa like taste and aroma
(Felker et al., 2003).
In this work, we analyzed the soluble phytochemical compo-
nents as well as the antioxidant capacity and genotoxicity of flour
from Prosopis pods, collected in Norwestern Argentine.
Since literature has shown the influence of biochemical trans-
formations on the concentrations of different metabolites during
food processing (Odibo et al., 2008) different extractions were
performed.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Sample preparations and processing
P. alba (Griseb.) and P. nigra (Griseb.) Hieron. ripe pods were col-
lected in La Unión, Departamento Rivadavia, Salta, Argentine in
December 2007. The fruits were brushed to remove foreign mate-
rial and dried at 50 °C until reaching constant weight. Dried pods
were ground to pass through a 80 lm sieve for the analysis. Sam-
ples were extracted with water and ethanol.
2.2. Ethanolic extraction
10 g of Prosopis flour were mixed with 100 ml of 96° ethanol.
The mixture was homogenized for 7 days at room temperature
and centrifuged for 20 min at 10,000g. The supernatant was fil-
tered through Whatman No. 4 filter paper. The supernatant was
dried under reduced pressure at 40°C and weighed.
2.3. Aqueous extraction with boiling
Five gram of ground samples were decocted in 100 ml of dis-
tilled water for 20 min. The decoction was left to cool at room tem-
perature, centrifuged for 20 min at 10,000g and filtered through
Whatman No. 4 filter paper. Supernatants were freeze-dried.
2.4. Sugar determination
The phenol–sulphuric acid method (Dubois, Gilles, Hamilton,
Rebers, & Smith, 1956) was used for determination of total neutral
sugars. Results were expressed as g of glucose/100 g dry weight.
Reducing sugars were measured using the Somogyi–Nelson
method (Nelson, 1944; Somogyi, 1945). Results were expressed
as g of glucose/100 g dry weight.
Glucose was determined by the glucose-oxidase method
(Jorgensen & Andersen, 1973). Sucrose was estimated by the resor-
cinol method (Cardini, Leloir, & Chiriboga, 1955). Fructose was
measured according to Roe (1934). Results were expressed as g
of glucose, sucrose and fructose/100 g dry weight, respectively.
2.5. Protein determination
Soluble protein concentration was determined by the method of
Lowry, Rosebrough, Farr, and Randall (1951) using bovine serum
albumin (BSA) as standard. Results were expressed as g of BSA/
100 g dry weight. Protein total (N  6.25) was determined accord-
ing to the AOAC (1998) methods.
2.6. Free phenolics content
A derived method of Folin–Ciocalteu, according to Singleton,
Orthofer, and Lamuela-Raventos (1999) was used: the reaction
mixture contained 50 ll of each preparation, 2 ml of distilled
water, 200 ll of Folin–Ciocalteu reagent and 800 ll of sodium car-
bonate (15.9% w/v). The reaction mixture was heated at 50 °C for
5 min in a water bath. Absorbance was measured at 765 nm. Re-
sults were expressed as g gallic acid equivalents/100 g dry weight
(g GAE/100 g DW).
2.7. Total flavonoid content determination
Flavonoid content was determined by the aluminium chloride
colorimetric method (Woisky & Salatino, 1998), with minor modi-
fications. A 0.5 ml of 2% aluminium chloride ethanolic solution was
added to 0.5 ml of sample diluted in ethanol. After 1 h at room
temperature, the absorbance was measured at 420 nm. Total flavo-
noid contents were expressed as g quercetin equivalents/100 g dry
weight (g QE/100 g DW).
2.8. Proanthocyanidin content
About 1.2 ml of n-butanol–HCl solution (95:5, v/v) and 40 ll of
iron reagent (2% ferric ammonium sulphate in 2 N HCl) were added
to 200–400 ll of extract. The test tubes were covered with glass
marbles and heated at 100 °C for 50 min. Absorbance was mea-
sured at 550 nm. Proanthocyanidin content was expressed as g of
quebracho tannin equivalent/100 g dry weight (g QTE/100 g DW),
(Porter, Hrstich, & Chan, 1986).
2.9. Phytic acid determination
Phytic acid levels were determined in flour by the method of
Vaintraub and Lapteva (1988) with some modifications. Ground
samples (0.5 g) were mixed with 10 ml of 3.5% HCl for 1 h. Then,
the sample was shaken and centrifuged at 3000g for 10 min. One
hundred and fifty microliter of the supernatants were diluted with
distilled water and adjusted to a final volume of 1.5 ml. Five hundred
microliter of Wade reagent (0.03% solution of FeCl36H2O containing
0.3% sulphosalicylic acid) was added and mixed for 30 s. Absorbance
was measured at 500 nm. Phytic acid was used as the standard and
results were expressed as g phytic acid/100 g dry weight.
2.10. Measurement of antioxidant capacity
2.10.1. ABTS free radical scavenging activity
The antioxidant capacity assay was carried out by the improved
ABTS+ method as described by Re et al. (1999). The ABTS+ was
generated by reacting 7 mM ABTS and 2.45 mM potassium persul-
fate after incubation at room temperature (23 °C) in the dark for
16 h. The ABTS+ solution was obtained by dilution in ethanol (for
 M.L. Cardozo et al. / Food Research International 43 (2010) 1505–1510
alcoholic extracts) or in buffer PBS pH 7.4 (for aqueous extracts) of
the stock solution to an absorbance of 0.70 at 734 nm. ABTS+ solu-
tion (1 ml) was added to samples (2.5–10 lg of phenolic com-
pounds) or to Trolox standard (final concentration 0–15 lM) in
ethanol and mixed thoroughly. Absorbance was recorded at
734 nm, 1 min after initial mixing and up to 6 min. Results were
expressed in terms of Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity
(TEAC, lmol Trolox equivalents/100 g dry weight of flour).
2.10.2. DPPH free radical scavenging activity
The H-donor activity of plant extracts was measured by the
DPPH method according to Ordoñez, Gomez, Vattuone, and Isla
(2006). A DPPH solution (1.5 ml of 300 lM in 96° ethanol) was
incubated with the samples (between 17 and 28 lg of phenolic
compounds). The reaction mixture was shaken and incubated for
20 min at room temperature and absorbance was measured at
515 nm. Butylated hydroxy-toluene (BHT) was used as reference
compound.
The percentage of radical scavenging activity (RSA%) was calcu-
lated using the following equation:
RSA% ¼ ½ðA0  As Þ=A0   100:
where A0 is the absorbance of the control and As is the absorbance of
the samples at 515 nm. SC50 values denote the sample concentra-
tion required to scavenge 50% DPPH free radicals.
2.10.3. b-carotene bleaching assay
Antioxidant activity was determined according to the b-Caro-
tene bleaching method following the procedure described by Ord-
oñez et al. (2006). The initial absorbance at 470 nm was registered
at zero time (t0) and for 120 min. Antioxidant activity (AA%) was
calculated as percent inhibition relative to control using the fol-
lowing equation (Al-Saikhan, Howard, & Miller, 1995):
AA% ¼ ½ðRcontrol  Rsample Þ=Rcontrol   100
where Rcontrol and Rsample were the bleaching rates of b-carotene in
reactant mix without antioxidant and in presence of the extracts,
respectively. IC50 values denote the sample concentration required
to inhibit 50% b-carotene bleaching.
2.11. Salmonella mutagenicity assay
The mutagenic effects of P. alba and P. nigra extracts were eval-
uated on two S. typhimurium strains (TA98 and TA100). The plate
incorporation assay was performed according to Maron and Ames
(1983), by adding 0.1 ml of the overnight bacterial culture and
0.1 ml of test compounds at different concentrations (6.25, 12.5
and 25 mg/plate) to the test tubes with 2 ml of top agar and then
each tube was plated on minimal agar. In the case of metabolic
Table 1
Soluble carbohydrates, soluble proteins, total phenolics and flavonoid contents of Prosopis alba and Prosopis nigra fruits.
Sample g/ Total sugars g/ Reducing sugars g/ Glucose g/
100 g DW 100 g DW 100 g DW 100 g DW
Aqueous extract
P. alba 52.08 ± 0.09 3.73 ± 0.11 1.38 ± 0.03
P. nigra 46.37 ± 0.08 3.17 ± 0.09 1.40 ± 0.05
Alcoholic extract
P. alba 12.56 ± 0.10 1.05 ± 0.12 0.37 ± 0.02
P. nigra 7.51 ± 0.09 1.02 ± 0.10 0.46 ± 0.02
Data are expressed as means ± standard deviations (n = 4) on dry weight basis. Sugar contents are expressed as g of glucose per 100 g of dry weight except for fructose and
sucrose which are expressed in the corresponding sugars. Soluble proteins content is expressed as g of bovine serum albumin per 100 g of dry weight. Total phenolic content
and flavonoids are expressed as g of gallic acid and g of quercetin equivalents per 100 g of dry weight, respectively.
1507
activation, 0.5 ml S9 mixture was supplemented. His+ revertants
were counted after 72 h of incubation at 37 °C.
Samples were prepared freshly for each experiment by dissolv-
ing in DMSO or distilled water.
The positive controls employed were 4-nitro-o-phenylenedi-
amine (4-NPD; Aldrich Chemical Co.), 5 lg/plate and 2-aminofluor-
ene (2-AF; Merck), 10 lg/ plate. Mutagenic effects were assayed
with and without metabolic activation (S9 mix fraction). As a sol-
vent control 100 ll DMSO/plate was run concurrently with all
experiments. Three plates at two separate experiments were used
for each concentration tested and for positive and negative
controls.
2.12. Statistical analysis
Sampling and analyses were performed in triplicate, and the
data are presented as mean ± standard deviation. The correlation
between two variants was analyzed by Pearson test using Graph-
Pad Prism 5.0 software, with the level of significance set at p < 0.05.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Phytochemical analysis
Table 1 shows the chemical components of ethanolic and aque-
ous preparations obtained with and without heating from flour of
two Prosopis species. The flours were named ‘‘alba” and ‘‘nigra” in
correspondence with the plant species. Aqueous extractions had a
higher total sugar content than alcoholic ones. P. alba flour pre-
sented a higher total sugar content than P. nigra. The high sugar
concentration in the flour (46–52% aqueous extracts) is remarkable
and, as confirmed by other authors, its bulk is the non-reducing
sugar, sucrose (Saunders et al., 1986). Glucose and fructose were
present in a very small quantity. The amount of total sugars for
P. alba (52.08 ± 0.09 g/100 g) agreed with the 59.10 ± 0.09 g/100 g
previously reported by Felker et al. (2003). Total protein content
in both plant species was around 4.2%. The soluble protein content
in both flours was similar. Aqueous extracts were able to retain
about 2.9–2.5% of soluble protein while ethanolic extracts pre-
sented 1.4% (Table 1). In general, legumes, as protein-rich crops,
are becoming increasingly important sources of vegetable proteins
for human food (Lumen, Becker, & Reyes, 1986).
In addition to their nutritional value, legumes contain signifi-
cant quantities of phenolic compounds such as phenolic acids,
flavonoids and tannins (Dabrowski & Sosulski, 1984). Some pheno-
lic compounds can reduce protein digestibility and mineral bio-
availability. On the other hand, these same compounds may have
protective effects such as antioxidants (Hagerman et al., 1998;
Takahata, Ohnishi-Kameyana, Furuta, Takahasi, & Suda, 2001;
Beninger & Hosfield, 2003). Prosopis showed free phenolic contents
Fructose g/ Sucrose g/ Soluble proteins g/ Total phenolics g/ Flavonoids g/
100 g DW 100 g DW 100 g DW 100 g DW 100 g DW
0.72 ± 0.02 42.19 ± 0.18 2.47 ± 0.08 0.40 ± 0.01 0.03 ± 0.00
1.76 ± 0.04 27.13 ± 0.11 2.93 ± 0.05 0.41 ± 0.01 0.13 ± 0.01
0.74 ± 0.03 6.98 ± 0.09 1.41 ± 0.03 0.18 ± 0.00 0.01 ± 0.00
0.34 ± 0.04 6.47 ± 0.06 1.41 ± 0.02 0.19 ± 0.00 0.06 ± 0.00
1508 M.L. Cardozo et al. / Food Research International 43 (2010) 1505–1510
similar to those of soybean (0.18–0.41 g GAE/100 g DW, Table 1).
The phenolic content in both flours was higher after boiling. Re-
sults indicate that the food processing procedures, like heating,
can lead to disassociation of some phenolic compounds from cellu-
lar structures such as lignin and polysaccharides (bound-phenolic).
Flavonoid content of P. nigra extracts was higher than P. alba,
0.07–0.13 g QE/100 g DW for P. nigra and 0.01–0.03 QE/100 g DW
for P. alba (Table 1).
Total condensed tannin concentrations of flour obtained from P.
nigra and P. alba varied from 4.64 to 6.90 g QTE/100 g DW, respec-
tively. Tannins might be associated with adverse effects as anti-
nutritional factors, causing lower dry matter intake and reduced
protein and fiber digestion (Schofield, Mbugua, & Pell, 2001). Phy-
tic acid concentrations in Prosopis samples were 1.19% and 1.39%
for P. nigra and P. alba flours, respectively. These results are similar
to those of 1.01–1.47% previously reported for soybean (Lolas,
Palamidis, & Markakis, 1976). Phytic acid can diminish mineral
bioavailability but shows antioxidant activity and protects DNA
from damage.
3.2. Antioxidant activity
Free radical species play a critical role in cardiovascular and
inflammatory diseases as well as in neurodegenerative disorders,
cancer and aging. Diets rich in antioxidants, could help prevent
these pathologies. Hence, it is important to determine the antioxi-
dant potentials of traditional and non conventional foods obtained
from native flora in order to have a guideline for their proper use.
The free radical scavenger potential of preparations obtained
from P. alba and P. nigra flours was tested by the DPPH and ABTS+
Fig. 1. Percentage of radical scavenging activity (%RSA) on DPPH radical: (A)
Prosopis alba (j) alcoholic extracts (SC50 = 12.10 ± 1.10 mg DW/ml) and () aqueous
extracts (SC50 = 3.91 ± 0.18 mg DW/ml); (B) Prosopis nigra (j) alcoholic extracts
(SC50 = 9.43 ± 1.03 mg DW/ml) and () aqueous extracts (SC50 = 1.95 ± 0.05 mg DW/
ml). Data are expressed as means ± standard deviations.
methods. In general, aqueous extracts were the best scavengers of
DPPH. The aqueous extract obtained from P. nigra flour with heat-
ing had the lowest SC50 and it was the most active scavenger of all.
SC50 values for all preparations ranged from 1.95 to 12.10 mg DW/
ml (Fig. 1A and B).
Aqueous extraction obtained from ‘‘nigra flour” also showed the
best antioxidant capacity to quench ABTS_+ radicals compared to
‘‘alba flour” (6161.93 ± 32.03 and 5706.10 ± 50.01 lmoles Trolox/
100 g DW, respectively). Nevertheless, P. nigra alcoholic extracts
exhibited lower TEAC values than P. alba (236.60 ± 7.91 and
582.08 ± 9.71 lmoles Trolox/100 g DW, respectively).
Percentage inhibition of lipid peroxidation by different concen-
trations of P. alba and P. nigra extracts was calculated (Fig. 2A and
B). Once more, the antioxidant potential was significantly higher in
P. nigra aqueous extract (IC50 = 0.1 mg DW/ml). The IC50 values
found were lower than those of the DPPH assay, ranging from 0.1
to 1.85 mg DW/ml.
The DPPH assay did not show any significant (P > 0.1) correla-
tion with phenolics or flavonoids. A significantly (P 6 0.05) positive
correlation was observed between the antioxidant potentials
determined by ABTS+ and b-carotene assays, and the total pheno-
lics (r = 0.988 and 0.997 respectively). However, total flavonoid
contents did not significantly (P > 0.1) correlate with the antioxi-
dant potential observed by all three methods.
3.3. Mutagenicity activity
The results of the mutagenicity assay of Prosopis extracts are
presented in Table 2. Different concentrations of aqueous and eth-
anolic Prosopis extracts did not show any mutagenic effect on TA98
and TA100 strains with and without metabolic activation.
Fig. 2. Percentage of antioxidant activity (AA%) relative to control using the b-
carotene bleaching assay: (A) Prosopis alba (j) alcoholic extracts
(IC50 = 1.85 ± 0.16 mg DW/ml) and () aqueous extracts (IC50 = 0.53 ± 0.10 mg
DW/ml); (B) Prosopis nigra (j) alcoholic extracts (IC50 = 1.62 ± 0.13 mg DW/ml)
and () aqueous extracts (IC50 = 0.10 ± 0.02 mg DW/ml). Data are expressed as
means ± standard deviations.
 M.L. Cardozo et al. / Food Research International 43 (2010) 1505–1510 1509

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