PROXIMATE

Justicia carnea, commonly known as Brazilian plume or Jacobinia is a tropical flowering plant from the Acanthaceae family, it is traditionally used for it’s therapeutic properties. This study presents a meticulous proximate analysis, qualitative and qualitative phytochemical screening, mineral and vitamin C analysis obtained from Justicia carnea leaf. The Proximate analyses revealed high level of carbohydrate (57.16 ± 0.15%) and fibre (12.75 ± 0.11%) and moderate protein and ash content of (10.18 ± 0.10%) and (7.12 ± 0.09%) respectively, low level of fat (4.45 ± 0.08%) highlighting the plant’s nutritional value. The Phytochemical screening indicated that Ethanolic extracts were more efficient in extracting compounds such as Alkaloids, Flavonoids, Saponins Phenols and Terpenoids compared to Aqueous extracts. The high level of these secondary metabolites indicate the significant bioactivity of the plant. Quantitative analysis showed significant concentration of Polyphenones (65.20 ± 2.10%), Vitamin C (28.45 ± 0.86%) and moderate level of Phytic acid (10.04 ± 0.40%), which underscores the leaf’s antioxidant potentials. Mineral analysis identified Calcium and Iron as predominant elements. This lays a robust foundation for further exploration of the Justicia carnea leaf extract in pharmaceutical and nutraceutical applications, emphasizing it’s potential as a natural source of health promoting compound.

Cucumis sativus (cucumber) is known to contain a variety of bioactive substances and phytochemicals. Some of these chemical elements have been connected to the plant's traditional therapeutic uses. The aim of this study was to evaluate the proximate, phytochemical and phenolic contents of aqueous and ethanol extracts of Cucumis sativus. The Proximate analysis results showed that the medicinal plant contained more Nitrogen-Free Substances (NFS) and protein, but low level of fibre (p < 0.05), phytochemical analysis showed that alkaloids, tannins, saponins, and other polyphenols were present in the plant, Phenols and saponins were present in high concentrations, while glycosides concentrations were low. The ethanol extract had significantly higher total phenol, but total flavonoid, flavonol and proanthocyanidin contents were significantly higher in the aqueous extract than in the ethanol extract (p < 0.05). The results obtained in this study indicate that C. sativus is a reservoir of potentially useful chemical compounds which may serve as drugs and provide newer leads and clues for modern drug design. C. sativus is a good source of phenolic compounds and could be used as a natural constituent of food and
medicines

Alstonia boonei De wild is a plant belonging to the Aponcyanacea family. Its leaves, root bark and stem bark parts have various traditional uses in parts of West Africa for the management of some ailments such as: Malaria, hypertension and cancer. The nutritional composition and phytochemical content of the leaf of Alstonia boonei De wild were explored under standard analytical methods in order to ingress the numerous potential of the plant. The qualitative phytochemical screening of aqueous extract of Alstonia boonei De wild, leaves showed the presence of saponins, tannins, alkaloids, phenols, steroids, cardiac glycosides, coumerins, phlobatannins and protein; with saponins, tannins, steroids, and phenol highly present. Flavanoids, terpenoids, emotins, anthraquinones and anthocyanins were seen to be absent. Variation of this composition was observed in the ethanol extract which showed that saponins, phenols, terpenoids, steroids, alkaloids, protein and anthocyanins were seen to be present in moderate proportion, whereas flavonoids, phlobatannins,coumerin, emotins and anthraquinones were seen to be absent, while cardiac glycosides was highly present. The medicinal value of Alstonia boonei De wild is influenced by the presence and levels of these secondary metabolites. The proximate analysis revealed that Alstonia boonei leaves are rich in carbohydrates (57.45 ± 1.38%), have a moderate content of Ash (3.67± 0.16%), crude protein (8.05 ± 00.05%), crude fats (9.50 ± 0.24%), and crude fibre (11.00 ± 0.47%); but a moderate content of moisture (10.30 ± 0.27%). The presence of high carbohydrates, protein, crude fats and fibre contents of the leaves may be responsible for their nutritive values