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Abstract: Garcinia indica C or commonly known as Kokum and is widely distributed in coastal India. The fruit is mainly found during the summer months, and the rind of the fruit is salted and dried and preserved for use in other parts of the year when it is not available fresh. The rind possesses an important phenolic compound called as Garcinol. The importance of this compound is well known. This investigation, therefore does not aim to study this compound. There are many other compounds which are present, beside garcinol, in the fruit and this study aims to investigate the antimicrobial properties of such compounds. The compounds are furfural and its derivatives, cyanidin- 3-glucose which is present as anthocyanin in the rind and caffeine. Of all these, furfural and cyanidin -3-glucose are potent antimicrobials. The extent to which these compounds get extracted in different solvents determine the degree of bacteriocidal action.
Keywords: Garcinia, furfural, cyanidin, antibacterials, Kokum
Introduction
Garcinia indica C or commonly known as Kokum and is distributed mainly in peninsular India. This is one of several species of Garcinia found in many tropical regions. The Kokum is from a tall tropical evergreen tree (Chandran, 2005). The fruit is harvested during April-May of every year. It is used as culinary in several cooking practices. The extract of the fruit has both antifungal (Selvi et al., 2003) and antibacterial properties and therefore, has a potential for use as biopreservative in food applications (Varalakshmi et al., 2010). The juice has a distinctive acidic flavor. It is a soothing drink in summer months and it provides relief from gastric disorders. It is traditionally used to treat sores, skin ailments such as rashes caused by allergies, dermatitis and chaffed skin, burns, scalds, and to relieve sunstroke. It is also a remedy for diarrhea, dysentery, piles and tumors. It facilitates digestion, purifies the blood and fights cholesterol (Mishra et al., 2006).
It has been found that rind of the fruit contains hydroxy citric acid [HCA], garcinol and the coloring pigment anthocyanin. HCA, which is claimed to have fat-reducing properties, is often used to reduce obesity (Lopes, 2007), since it inhibits the enzyme, citrate lyase responsible for conversion of carbohydrates into fats (Watson et al., 1969).
Another major compound reported...