Nelumbo nucifera

The paper deals with the review on the nutraceutical details of the rhizome of the plant Nelumbo having two species worldwide from which N. lutea is confined to North America and Canada to an altitudinal range beyond 2400 m a.s.l. whereas the other species N. nucifera is distributed throughout the World in the tropical parts up to 1400 m a.s.l. having good nutritional and medicinal properties. The rhizome is considered to be used for the sake of presence of starch, minerals and vitamins particularly vitamin B6, helpful in the mental and physical growth amongst fetus. Very little is known on the traditional use of rhizome of N. lutea and its chemical and pharmacological attributes as well as its toxicity needs to be studied in detail as it is not available before inclusion in nutritional diet especially for diabetic and cardiac patients as well as women bearing fetus.

Nelumbo nucifera (L.) belonging to Nelumbonaceae commonly known as lotus, aquatic herb grown and consumed throughout Asia. It is known in Sanskrit-Svetakamala, English-Sacred Lotus, Hindi- Kanwal and French-Nelumbo. All parts of N. nucifera used for various medicinal purposes in various systems of medicine including folk medicines, Ayurveda and Chinese traditional medicine. Many chemical constituents have been isolated from this plant.  However, the bioactive constituents of lotus are mainly alkaloids and flavonoids. Traditionally the whole plant of lotus was used as astringent, emollient, diuretic, diarrhea and in the treatment of tissue inflammation and seeds are used in the cancer treatment. In this research work the fixed oil was isolated from lotus seeds with a solvent extraction method and its physicochemical and phytochemical parameters were evaluated along with TLC parameter. Seeds organoleptic, microscopical & physicochemical parameters were also evaluated.

Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn. (Family -Nymphaeaceae) commonly known as Indian lotus. Also known as the sacred lotus has been used in the indigenous system of medicine. Phytochemical constituents, free radical scavenging activity and total antioxidant activity of various extracts of Nelumbo nucifera flowers were carried out in the study. Phytochemicals were extracted from Nelumbo nucifera flowers using various solvents such as aqueous, benzene, chloroform, ethanol, ethyl acetate and methanol and petroleum ether. Screening of phytochemicals showed positive results for the presence of flavanoids, alkaloids, phenols, glycosides, carbohydrates and tannins. Phytochemicals were best extracted in methanol. The antioxidant activity of the extracts was measured in terms of reducing power and 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging capacity. The methanolic extract was found to possess comparatively higher antioxidant properties. So, the present data suggests that methanolic extract of lotus flower constitute significant amounts of phytochemical compounds and are good source of antioxidants.