CHAPTER ONE

                                                     INTRODUCTION

Plants are important in human being everyday existence. They provide our foods, produce the oxygen that we breathe, and use as raw materials for many industrial products such as clothes, foot wears and so many others. Plants also provide raw materials for our buildings and in the manufacture of dyes, perfumes, pesticides and drugs. These plants contain the wild fruits currently used for their fruits, seeds, kernels, flowers, sap and oth-er edible products. Indeed, these elements are important in diets food and could powerfully help to solve or mi-nimize the problems of food insecurity. Wild fruits are an important (quality and quantity) part of the diet, especially for children. Some wild fruits also can be kept for 4 - 5 months during the dry season. It is generally accepted that the concentration of vitamin C in the indigenous wild fruits is higher than that in exotic fruits. The protein content of seeds and kernels of native species is high. The wild fruits are also good sources of carbohydrate, calcium, magnesium and potassium [7] [8].

Kola nut (Cola spp.) belongs to the Steruliacea plant family with over 20 species native to the Africa tropical rain forest [9]. Cola nitida and Cola acuminata are the most common Cola species used. These species are sources of caffeine in processing and pharmaceutical industries and often chewed by some ethnic’s group set-tings as stimulants. The presence of other chemicals in kola nuts such as kolanin and theobromine also makes them suitable for use in drug preparation. In addition, research has shown some potential uses of ko-la nut in the production of wine, chocolate and many non-alcoholic beverages. Apart of those two species cited above, there is Garcinia kola (angiospermae) belonging to the Clusiaceae family. The seeds of G. ko-la are currently used in traditional medicine in many herbal formulations and have potential therapeutic benefits due largely to the activity of their flavonoids and other bioactive compounds.

The chemical compositions and the antimicrobial sensitivity of some fruits such as Chrysophyllum albidum (udara)  have been determined (Arukwe et al., 2012). Fruits have been known to be medicinal and have been applied in curative medicine. Chrysophyllum cainito also known as star apple is a fleshy fruit with soft endocarp. It is a tropical tree of the family Sapotaceae, and native to the Greater Antilles and the West Indies (Luo et al., 2002). It is also sparsely distributed in Nigeria; grows rapidly and reaches 20 m in height (Luo et al., 2002). It has numerous common names including cainito, caimito, star apple, golden leaf tree and also milk fruit (National Research Council, 2008). The tree is hermaphrotic in nature with round; purple-skinned fruit that is often green around the calyx with a star pattern in the pulp. Sometimes there is a greenish – white or yellow variety of the fruit (National Research Council, 2008). The skin is rich in latex; though the skin and the rind are not edible. The seed is flat, hard and light brown in color (Einbond et al., 2004). The fruits are delicious as a fresh dessert fruit; it is sweet and best served chilled. The fruit has antioxidant properties (Luo et al., 2002; Einbond et al., 2004). Infusions of the leaves have been used against diabetes and articular rheumatism (Luo et al., 2002). The bark is considered a tonic and stimulant, and a bark decoction is used as an antitussive (Luo et al., 2002). The Ayurvedic system of medicine has described various fruits in the treatment of diseases, which play an important role in modern health care and curing various ailments and diseases (Luo et al., 2002). There are several reports on the chemical composition and antimicrobial activities of some fruits and their extracts that inhibits various bacteria (Luo et al., 2002). However, studies on the chemical compositions and antimicrobial activities of Chrysophyllum cainito are limited. Therefore, scientific evaluation of this fruit is important to elucidate its chemical composition as well as its antimicrobial activity in order to support its use as food and as alternative medicine in the treatment of some infections, especially enteric diseases

          Chrysophyllum albidum (commonly known as white star apple) is a forest fruit tree   described by the Scottish botanist George Don. It is commonly found throughout tropical Africa.

Amongst the Yoruba tribes of Nigeria, it is called Agbalumo while called Udala in the eastern and southern parts of Nigeria It is closely related to the African star apple (Chrysophyllum africanum) which is also common throughout West Africa. Some schools of thought feel that they may just be a variety of the same species. Also in the family is the (purple) star apple (Chrysophyllum cainito).

In Ondo state  these fruits  are regularly chewed and have varied socio-cultural importance. Un-fortunately, in the country, very few scientific studies have been carried out on those species . Apart of the biochemical characterization and the nutritional properties of seeds, it is important to investigate the anti-nu-trienal factors . Indeed, the anti-nutritional factors have been described as substances that block or inhibit important metabolic pathways, especially digestion . These substances are known to reduce the bioavailabil-ity of many nutrients such as proteins, vitamins and minerals. For example, minerals and trace elements are in-efficiently and variably absorbed from diet due to many factors including anti-nutrients such as phytates, oxa-lates, tannins, and cyanides in foods . Against this background the following questions are raised:

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

 1) what is the composition of nutritional compounds of studying ondo’s kola nuts and star apple?

 2) What is the anti-nutritional profile of these  species ?

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

 To examine the proximate, nutritional and anti-nutrient composition of these two common fruit  species collected in Ondo state.

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