Determination of Total Antioxidant Activity & Target Micronutrient Contents of the Selected Nutri-Medicinal Plants

Nutri-medicinal plants may have a big role to play in the intervention to improve the nutritional status and manage immunosuppressive disorders in HIV/AIDS patients as well as the opportunistic ailments that arise from the same. These plants are readily available and affordable in our ecosystems and also contain micronutrients which in themselves may have antioxidant properties that are needed in the management of ailments in HIV/AIDS patients. The use of such plants rich in phytochemicals, as supplements and herbal remedies may slow down oxidative stress and the progression of HIV/AIDS. In this study, fifty randomly selected plants collected from four parishes of Namayumba sub-county, Wakiso district, Central Uganda were evaluated for total antioxidant capacity (TAC) using two assays 1,1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) and Ferric Reducing Ability of Plasma (FRAP), and for micronutrients namely Zinc, Iron and Selenium. The results from TAC-DPPH ranged from 30.63±0.21% to 1.59±0.06% for Annona muricata and Spathodea campanulata respectively, and TAC-FRAP recorded a range of 5.16±1.39 mM/l to 0.08±mM/l for Amaranthus lividus and Spathodea campanulata respectively. Amaranthus lividus registered the highest Zinc content as 6567.65±20.81 mg/kg with Erythrina abyssinica exhibiting the lowest at 0.39±0.03 mg/kg. The leaves of a commonly consumed tuber Manihot esculenta had the highest Iron content at 1289.54±0.14 mg/kg and Kigelia africana with the lowest at 3.23±0.37 mg/kg. The study indicated that selenium is present in small amounts compared to Zinc and Iron; however, Amaranthus lividus and Spathodea campanulata registered the highest of 8.18±2.46 mg/kg and lowest of 0.20±0.004 mg/kg respectively. The study showed a wide range of antioxidant and micronutrient content in the plants studied indicating that a wide choice of nutri-medicinal plants is available with a large potential to provide nutritional and medicinal interventions to manage nutritional disorders and manage opportunistic ailments in HIV/AIDS patients