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Caritan, Tuguegarao City 3500, Cagayan

Antioxidant Property of Alugbati leaves (Basella alba) as Tea

____________________________

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements in
Inorganic and Organic Chemistry

GROUP 1

JOHN ADRIANNE YASMINI PAGADDU

CHRISTINE PEARL ESTEBAN

KWIN MILLENJEN CARAG

GENE VINCENT ABALLA

REIGNER RODRIGUEZ

ROBERT JOB SIMEON

CESAR BAQUIRAN JR.

DONDON VALETE

CHARMYL PABRO

NIKA MORGADO

_______________________________

January 2019

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DEDICATION

To

ALMIGHTY GOD

and to

our loved ones,

this piece of work is sincerely and solemnly

dedicated.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The researchers wish to express their profound gratitude and appreciation to

the following, whose great contributions made possible the accomplishment of

the study. They are rendering their offerings to these benevolent contributors who

made this research viable.

Families, who were always generous in their financial, moral support, and

sacrifices for the researchers in able to finish the study.

Friends, who shared the best and warmest friendship.

Above all, to Almighty God, who gave strength to meet all trials and hardsips

we encountered on the duration of the study.

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ABSTRACT

The study entitled ‘The Antioxidant Property of Alugbati leaves (Basella alba)

as Tea’ was conducted to determine the exact radical-scavenging activity of

pulverized alugbati leaves and to determine if it has a significant difference with

the increasing concentration of extract. Determining which concentration was best

to be used in making tea was also a objective of this study. Thus, the main

objective of this study is to determine the best concentration of pulverized

alugbati leaves that can be used in making an antioxidant tea.

The leaves were first subjected into air-drying for a couple of weeks. Then, the

dried leaves were pulverized using mortar and pestle. After obtaining a 300 grams

of pulverized leaves, the researchers sent it to DOST Tuguegarao for the

phytochemical testing and to DOST Taguig for the DPPH assay which determines

the antioxidant property of the leaves.

Results showed that as the concentration increase, the radical-scavenging

activity was also increasing but only up to the 9th concentration of treatment 9.

The researchers then used Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient to

test if there is a significant difference between the concentration and the radical-

scavenging. Results showed that there is a significant difference between the

increasing concentration and the scavenging radicals of alugbati leaves because

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the scavenging cannot be determined by the increase or decrease of concentration

alone.

Although the exact radical scavenging cannot be determined by the increase

in the amount of the leaves alone, alugbati leaves can still be a tea considering that

the amount of leaves that has the most scavenging activity is 2844 mg (treatment

9). Therefore, it is the amount that is best to use in making the tea.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Title Page ……………………………………………………………….. i

Dedication ........................................................................................... ii

Acknowledgement …………………………………………………….. iii

Abstract …………………………………………………………………. iv-v

Table of Contents ……………………………………………………… vi-vii

Chapters
I. The Problem and its Background

Introduction ………………………………………………… 1-2

Statement of the Problem …………………………………. 2-3

Statement of the Hypothesis ……………………………… 3

Theoretical Framework ……………………………………. 3-4

Significance of the Study ………………………………….. 4

Scope and Delimitations ………………………………….. 5

Definition of Terms ………………………………………... 5-6

II. Review of Related Literature ………………………………… 7-13

III. Methodology

Research Design ……………………………………………. 14

Locale of the Study ………………………………………… 14

Data Gathering Instrument ……………………………….. 14

Data Gathering Procedure ………………………………... 15

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Analysis of Data …………………………………………. 15

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Chapter I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

People grow and cannot turn back anymore to their old appearance as time

pass by. Aging according to Transparecy Market Research, is brought about by a

cycle of various biochemical processes in the body that affects it both internally

and externally. These processes cause the body to degenerate over a period of

time impacting one’s health, fitness and beauty of an aging individual. To counter

this, anti-aging products are made.

Albany shows that globally, anti-aging markets was estimated to be worth

USD 122.3 billion in 2013, and is likely to record a strong growth of over USD

191.7 billion by 2019. This clearly supports what was mentioned above. But the

question is, is using products like these bad? The answer is no.

It is mentioned above that aging also affects not only the beauty or

physical appearance but also the health and fitness of a person, thus proving that

anti-aging products are not bad for people. Using products like this may have

some side effects but it totally isn’t bad for people. But still, the word ‘side effect’

makes an impression that something may go wrong hence making people wary

of the product.Because of this, many people are now altering to more natural way

of doing things such as eating vegetables, teas and many more.

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In the Philippines, Basella alba also known as Alugbati is a highly

nutritive and useful plant that is considered an underutilized crop in the country.

According to Stuart, the phytochemical screening of various extract yields

constituents that contributes to the anticancer, antioxidant, and anti-

inflammatory property of the plant. The antioxidant component of Basella Alba is

found mostly on its leaves.

In connection, this plant will most likely to be one of those who can help

those who want to remain unfazed by age. Those who don’t want to look “old”

and remain as young as possible in terms of physical appearance. Because of this,

the researchers intend to study the potential of Alugbati leaves as an anti-oxidant

tea and how effective it is compared to commercialized anti-oxidant products.

Thus, the researchers conducted a study about The Antioxidant Property of

Alugbati leaves as tea.

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Statement of the Problem

This Study aimed to determine the antioxidant property of alugbati leaves

tea. Specifically, it aimed to answer the following questions:

1. What is the antioxdidant property of Alugbati Leaves tea?

2. What treatment has the highest antioxidant property among the other

treatments?

3. Is there a significant difference among the antioxidant property of the

treatments?

4. Is there a significant difference between the concentration of the

treatment and it’s antioxidant property?

5. What treatment is best to use as tea?

Statement of the Hypothesis

Ho1: There is no significant difference among the treatments in terms of

the findings using the DPPH testing.

Ho2: There is no significant difference between the concentration of the

treatment and it’s antioxidant property.

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Theoretical Framework

This study entitled The Antioxidant Property of Alugbati leaves as tea

was based on numerous researches and books. One is all about antioxidants and

its effect on the health of people. After that, the researches decided to use

Alugbati leaves based on books and researchers that proves the antioxidant

component of it. The Pulverized leaves was tested using DPPH test that was

chosen based on other related researches that tested the antioxidant of the

leaves. The result was analyzed to see if there is a significant difference among

them them.

Independent Dependent

Varying
concentrations of Antioxidant Property
powderized alugbati
leaves.

Figure 1.The Research Paradigm

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Significance of the Study

Physical appearance turns out to be one of the most worries an individual

has nowadays. To conquer this, anti-aging products that mainly contains anti-

oxidant emerged. Thus, providing another product that will not only promote

anti-aging but also the health benefits it can give to an individual was the goal of

this study.

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Scope and Delimitations

The study focused mainly on testing or finding out the antioxidant

property alugbati leaves that was used as the product. The researchers then

analyzed the results and was able to point out what concentration has the highest

antioxidant property and the concentration that can be most likely to be used as

tea.

However, the study was limited only in finding the antioxidant and did

not include the testing of it’s acceptability as a tea as well as being compared to

the commercialized products. Furthermore, it used only the leaves instead of the

whole plant because of other components that can contradict the purpose of the

antioxidant component that was used for the study.

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Scope and Delimitations

The study focused mainly on testing or finding out the antioxidant

property alugbati leaves that was used as the product. The researchers then

analyzed the results and was able to point out what concentration has the highest

antioxidant property and the concentration that can be most likely to be used as

tea.

However, the study was limited only in finding the antioxidant and did

not include the testing of it’s acceptability as a tea as well as being compared to

the commercialized products. Furthermore, it used only the leaves instead of the

whole plant because of other components that can contradict the purpose of the

antioxidant component that was used for the study.

Definition of terms

The following terms are operationally defined to shed light in

understanding this study.

Alugbati (Basella alba) - It refers to a plant that is several meters in

length, branched, smooth, herbaceous vine. It has a heart-shaped

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leaves that is usually found in the backyard and will used in this

study.

Anti-aging – It refers to the products that is used to counter the aging

that can affect the heath, fitness and physical appearance of an

individual.

Antioxidant – It refers to a substance that is added to food and other

products to prevent harmful chemical reactions in which oxygen

is combined with other substances.

DPPH Assay- Also known as 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl testing. It

refers to the process of which the researchers will use to evaluate

the antioxidant potential of Alugbati leaves through free radical

scavenging by the test samples. It will be the one to identify the

effectivity of the product.

Unfazed – It refers to a person that is not worried, confused, or confused

by something that has happened.

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Chapter II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

The following thematically- arranged related literature were selected

and reviewed for the enrichment, preparation, design, and direction of this

study.

Aging

According to Medical dictionary aging is the process that is genetically

determined and environmentally modulated. Likewise, there are factors that

affects aging. It includes Glycation and AGES, oxidative stress and Telomeres.

Stressful experiences include major life events, trauma, and abuse and are

sometimes related to the environment in the home, workplace, or neighborhood

and stress, can both have long-term consiquences. The effects of chronic stress

may be exacerbated by rich diet and the use of tobacco and alcohol and reduced

by moderate exercise.

Meanwhile, these factors that can affect aging has ways to counter it. Such

as, Water Radiolysis and primary products, Antioxidant Vitamins and Protection

of cell membrane damage by antioxidant vitamins (Getoff, N., 2007).

Effects of Aging

On the other hand, aging affects people in different ways. Psychologically,

aging affects people when they begin to have memory loss and became

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absentminded. Also, as the body ages it becomes less capable absorbing

nutrients. (Coleman, B., 2010). Also, aging can affect people physically. Predicted

gain in life expectancy would potentially lead to an increase in the number of

older people acquiring age related chronic diseases of the cardiovascular, brain

and immune system (Rahman, K., 2007).

Anti-oxidant

Skin aging is caused by several factors. Ultraviolet (UV) exposure as well

as oxidative stress elevates inflammatory mediators causing degradation of the

extracellular matrix, which is regarded as the major cause of skin wrinkles, one of

the signs of aging. Topical applications of active ingredients protect against

dermal photodamage and scavenge radicals that can delay skin aging.

(Kanlayavattanakul, M. et al., 2015)

The term antioxidant refers to any molecule capable of stabilizing or

deadctivating free radicals before they attack another cells. Humans have

evolved highly complex antioxidant systems which work to protect the cells and

organ system of the body against free radical damage. An ideal antioxidant

according to Rahman, should be readily absorbed, quenched free radicals, and

chelate redox metals at physiologically relevant levels (Rahman, 2007).

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The most efficient enzymatic antioxidants involves glutathione,

peroxidase, catalase, and superoxide dismutates according to Mates et al., based

on Studies on Free Radicals, Antioxidants and Co-factors (Rahman, 2007)

Antioxidant activity related to the inflammation mechanisms caused by free

radicals is assayed. Then formulation of gel from Basella mucilage was prepared
which can be used for further development of cosmetic and anti-
inflammatory purposes as topical usage. Anthocyanins are a natural pigment

which is responsible for the blue, purple, violet and red colours in fruits, flowers,

stem and leaves.

Antioxidant activities, total phenolic, flavonoid and ascorbic acid contents

of B. alba commonly consumed in Nigeria are determined. A high and significant

correlation existed between antioxidant activity and total phenolic content

indicating that total phenolic content is the major contributor to the antioxidant

activity of the plant. Ascorbic acid fairly correlated with antioxidant and phenolic

content. B. Alba contains β carotene. The phytochemical contents of the leafy

vegetables serve as supplements for food and also have the potential to improve

the health status of its users as a result of the presence of various compounds

vital for good health. (Kumar, 2012).

These further proves that antioxidants have the power to fight free

radicals that can be harmful to people.

Alugbati

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Alugbati (Basella rubra L.) based on books is a succulent, branched,

smooth, twining, herbaceous vine. The stems are green or purplish. The leaves

are somewhat fleshy, ovate or heartshaped. It is widely cultivated in all regions

of the country particularly in Mindanao. Alugbati is commonly grown for its

young shoots which make a good mucilaginous vegetable, used in stews or soup;

or sometimes as a green salad. Its fruits seem to have been earlier used for dyeing

purposes in China (Baang et al., 2015). It is a succulent, branched, smooth,

twining herbaceous vine, several meters in length. Stems are purplish or green.

Leaves are fleshy, ovate or heart-shaped, 5 to 12 cms long, stalked, tapering to a

pointed tip with a cordate base. Spikes are axillary, solitary, 5-29 cm long. Fruit

is fleshy, stalkless, ovoid or spherical, 5-6 mm long, and purple when mature.

Mainly leaves and stems are use.

Properties of Alugbati

Because of the continuous consumption, its has been discovered as

asperient, rubefacient and for catarrhal infections. Some of the compounds

available especially in the plant are basella saponins, kaempherol, betalin, etc.

Several extracts like aqueous, chloroform, ethanol and petroleum has been used

for different pharmaceutical activities.

The chemical composition of the leaf extract include: proteins, fat, vitamin

A, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K, vitamin B9 (folic acid), riboflavin, niacin,

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thiamine and minerals such as calcium, magnesium and iron. Kaempherol is the

flavonoid present in Basella alba at a concentration of 1.4mg/100g. Basella

mucilage is viscous with low swelling capacity. Its pH is good for skin. Partial

purification of Basella mucilage proved to be composed of polysaccharide with

D-galactose as a major compound.

Basella alba is a good source of vitamins A, C and B9, thiamine, ribofl

0avin, niacin, minerals like calcium, magnesium and iron, and several

antioxidants. It also contains essential amino acids such as arginine, isoleucine,

leucine, lysine, threonine, and tryptophan and a low percentage of soluble

oxalates. Different drying methods and storage resulted in a considerable

reduction in calcium, magnesium, sodium, iron, manganese, and zinc. Basella

saponins, peptide, and phenolic compounds were shown to be present in Basella

alba. The leaves contain carotenoids, organic acids, water soluble

polysaccharides, bioflavonoid, betacyanin, and vitamin K. Also, triterpene

oligoglycosides basella saponins A, B, C, and D, betavulgaroside I, momordins

IIb and IIc have been isolated from the plant (Tongco et al., 2015)

Alugbati Leaf

Leaves of B. alba is used for the treatment of hypertension by Nigerians in

Lagos, and malaria in cameroonian folk medicine. The plant has been reported

for its antifungal, anticonvulsant, analgesic, anti-inflammatory and androgenic

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activities and for the treatment of anemia. The leaves of B. alba are traditionally

used in ayurveda system of medicine to bring sound refreshing sleep when it is

applied on head about half an hour before bathing.

Leaf-juice mixed with butter, is soothing and cooling when applied to

burns and scalds.The plant is febrifuge, its juice is a safe aperients for pregnant

women and a decoction has been used to alleviate labour.

Basella alba is administered orally for the treatment of anal prolapsed or

hernia. Ground leaves of Basella alba are rubbed on the human hand to introduce

the whole preparation into the animal vagina every morning for the treatment of

sterility. The leaf juice is used in Nepal to treat dysentery, catarrh and applied

externally to treat boils.

Leaves are used in constipation, poultice for sores, urticaria and gonorrhea. It

is also used in poultice local swellings, intestinal complaints.

Stem and leaves are used as mild laxative, diuretic and antipyretic. In

India, it has been used for antipruritis and burn , and has been used in

Bangladesh for acne and freckle treatment. The Ayurvedic treatment in India has

been used B. alba leaves and stem for anticancer such as melanoma, leukemia

and oral cancer. Root and leaves has been used for the removal of after birth,

stomach pains and increase milk production ( Kumar, 2012).

Tea

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Tea is grown in about 30 countries but is consumed world wide, although at

greatly varying levels. It is the most widely consumed beverage aside from water

with a per capita world wide. Consumption of approximately 0.12 L per year

(Graham,1992).

Tea is particularly rich in polyphenols, including catechins, theaflavins

and thearubigins, which are thought to contribute to the health benefits of tea.

Tea polyphenols act as antioxidants in vitro by scavenging reactive oxygen and

nitrogen species and chelating redox-active transition metal ions (American

Society for Nutritional Sciences, 2003).

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Synthesis

It is mentioned above the components and nutritional benefits of Alugbati.

Specially its leaves that bears most of the antioxidant component according to

studies. Thus, using these facts and related studies that futher proves the

capability of Alugbati leaves as an antioxidant reagent, the researchers thought

of using it as a tea that most people found relaxing to drink so that it will not

only prevent aging, but also give relaxation and nutrition to the drinker.

In conclusion, the researchers would like to test the antioxidant property

of alugbati leaves as well as identify which concentration has the most

antioxidant capacity and use it as an agent to prevent the further attacks of free

radicals in the body. The researchers, based on the related literatures, will study

the Antioxidant Property of Pulverized Alugbati leaves as Tea.

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Chapter III

METHODOLOGY

This chapter described the Research Design, Locale of the Study,

Respondents of the Study, Research Instruments, Data Gathering Procedure and

Analysis of Data.

Research Design

This study used a quantitative research design specifically experimental

design.

Locale of the Study

The product of the study was made at Tumauini, Isabela and had

undergone laboratory test to get its antioxidant property at Department of Science

and Technology, Taguig City as well as the phytochemical testing in DOST

Tuguegarao.

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Data Gathering Instruments

The researchers submited the product to DOST Taguig and had 1-

diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay to evauate the antioxidant potential

through free radical scavenging by the test samples.

Data Gathering Procedure

The alugbati leaves was first subjected to air-drying by placing the

container of the leaves in a shaded and cool area. The drying took about 2-3 weeks

depending on the amount of the leaves. Second, the dried leaves were crushed

and were subjected to air-drying that deactivates oxidative enzymes of the leaves

and prevents it from rotting.

For the testing of the product, the 200 grams of pulverized alugbati leaves

were put into a clean and closed container. It was tested in the DOST laboratory

using phytochemical analysis for the identification if it has sapponins, flavonnoid

and many more as well as 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay that

evaluated the antioxidant potential of the product through free radical scavenging

by the test samples. The results was given to the researchers after the laboratory

tested it.

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Analysis of Data

The study will be analyzed using Pearson Product-Moment Correlation

Coefficient.

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