ANALYSIS OF STEM OF TINOSPORA CORDIFOLIA, LEAVES OF ANDROGRAPHIS PANICULATA AND ROOT AND LEAVES OF BOERHAAVIA DIFFUSA FOR NUTRITIONAL AND PHYTOCHEMICAL COMPOSITION

Medicinal plants found diverse use in the society from medicine to cosmetics and herbal foods as they have vast potential for their curative medicinal uses. In view of this, the fresh stem of Tinospora cordifolia, leaves of Andrographis paniculata and roots and leaves of Boerhaavia diffusa were evaluated for nutritional and phytochemical compositions. The results showed that the leaves were found to be richer in vitamin C and minerals as compared to stem and root parts, while stem and root samples were found to be rich in fibre content. Berberine content (0.03294 %) in T. cordifolia and andrographolide (1.8 %) in A. paniculata were found to be high. The leaves of B. diffusa were found to be richer in percent radical scavenging activity (24.32 %) as compared to T. cordifolia stem (21.72 %) and A. paniculata leaves (23.56 %). B. diffusa leaves were found to be richest source of phytochemicals and percent radical scavenging activity among the parts analyzed, except saponins. The nutrient compositions obtained from the analysis suggested that these plant parts are a good source of antioxidants, vitamin and macro-and micro-nutrients make them strongly suitable to be incorporated into human nutrition.