Study on the Relation Patterns of Bitter leaf Juice Phytochemicals at Varying Temperature

Abstract

Bitter leaf juice is known to have nutritional and therapeutic benefit which depends on its constituents for its efficiency when consumed.  In Nigeria, bitter leaf juice is prepared and consumed at room temperature and elevated temperatures for treatment of malaria, reducing blood sugar levels, as anti-oxidants, anti-bacterial and other numerous medicinal and pharmaceutical properties. The argument of what temperature is suitable for the juice consumption and its efficacy always arises. It becomes necessary to investigate how varying temperature affects the physiochemical and phytochemical properties of the juice, its bitter taste and the relationship patterns in which this variation takes place. This project work looks at the relationship patterns between the phytochemical properties of bitter leaf juice at varying temperature and their probably benefit. Laboratory quantitative analysis of some physical properties (pH, specific gravity and conductivity) and phytochemical components (alkaloids, tannins, saponnins, flavonoids, terpenoids and phenols) were carried out for bitter leaf juice samples heated within temperatures 40°C, 60°C, 80°C and 100°C and then compared to the quantitative analysis of the bitter leaf extract sample at room temperature (25°C). The result showed a significant reduction in the phytochemical constituents where alkaloids and phenols  reduces linearly with increasing temperature, tannins, saponnins, flavonoids and terpenoids  reduces with increasing temperature in polynomial form of second order. The pH and specific gravity also decreases as temperature increases in polynomial form of second order while the conductivity increases with increasing temperature. These change showed that the medicinal and pharmaceutical properties of the juice and bitter taste decreases with increasing heat. The bitter leaf juice becomes, more acidic, less dense than water and more conducting at high temperatures. Thus, the juice prepared at 25°C is best suited for nutritional and therapeutic benefit and if heat is to be applied to bitter leaf juice, the temperature 40°C is recommended since at this temperature, the composition of the phytochemical and physiochemical properties is not much different from that at 25°C.