Sacha inchi leaf extracts: summary of a 2020 in vitro study
This page summarises a laboratory study published in 2020 in Food Science and Preservation (Korea). It looked at extracts of sacha inchi leaves, not at the seeds or the oil that Amazon Andes supplies, and it is not a health claim.
The study at a glance
- Reference
- Jang M., You S., Kim G.-H. (2020). Evaluation of antibacterial and antioxidant activities of Sacha inchi (Plukenetia volubilis L.) leaf from Myanmar. Food Science and Preservation 27(6): 781–790. doi:10.11002/kjfp.2020.27.6.781
- Type of study
- In vitro laboratory study. No animals or people.
- Material
- 70% ethanol extracts of sacha inchi leaves from two regions of Myanmar: Mandalay and Yangon.
- Tests
- Total polyphenols and flavonoids; DPPH, ABTS and FRAP antioxidant assays; disc diffusion, time-kill curves and minimum inhibitory concentrations against 12 strains of pathogenic bacteria.
What the authors reported
- Leaves from Yangon contained more total polyphenols (97.84 vs 71.27 mg/g) and flavonoids (89.60 vs 60.81 mg/g) than leaves from Mandalay, and gave higher DPPH, ABTS and FRAP values.
- Both extracts formed clear inhibition zones on plates with pathogenic bacteria, and time-kill curves showed that the growth of all tested strains was inhibited after 24 hours.
- The MIC50 ranged from 6.25 to 2,000 µg/mL and the MIC100 from 125 to 5,000 µg/mL, depending on the strain. Antibacterial activity was higher for the Yangon extract.
What this study does not show
- All tests were done on leaf extracts in the laboratory; nothing was tested in animals or people.
- It says nothing about the seeds, the oil or the protein powder, which are the parts used as food ingredients.
- The leaves came from Myanmar; composition can vary with the growing region, as the study itself shows.
Why it is relevant for product developers
It shows that research on sacha inchi covers the whole plant, not only the seed. Leaf extracts are being studied in food science for their antioxidant and antibacterial activity. Amazon Andes supplies sacha inchi seed products: cold-pressed oil, protein powder, roasted seeds and softgels.
Before you use this in a product
Any claim on a finished product must follow the rules of the market where it is sold. In the European Union, only health claims authorised under Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 may be used on foods, and food information must not attribute to a food the property of preventing, treating or curing a human disease (Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Article 7). In the United States, foods and dietary supplements may not claim to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent a disease, except for health claims authorised by the FDA.
This page summarises published research for information purposes. It is not a health claim about sacha inchi or about Amazon Andes products, which are foods and food ingredients and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Read the original article: Food Science and Preservation (2020).