Antioxidants from Coconut Coir can Combat Cancer

Edible flavoring chemicals obtained from waste coconut coir have demonstrated antioxidant properties combating breast cancer, according to researchers of Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Delhi University and Institute of Medical Sciences. The findings of the study have been published in journals like Bioresource Technology, Food Biotechnology and Applied Food Biotechnology.

Turning Coconut Waste to Cancer Medicine

Dr. Abhishek Dutt Tripathi, Department of Dairy Science and Food Technology, Institute of Agricultural Sciences said that cities like Varanasi, which have great religious and spiritual significance, produce massive amount of temple waste which has large quantities of coconut coir.

“This waste though biodegradable, if not regulated properly, poses threat to the environment and serves as the breeding ground for numerous microbial diseases. There is a vast scope for using coconut coir as it is rich in lignocellulosic biomass,” he said.

He said that there have been studies describing the different approaches to converting coconut coir waste’s lignocellulosic biomass into value-added aromatics(1^✔ ✔Trusted Source
Discovering the Wonders of the Coconut

Go to source). “We have attempted to take this work a step forward to prepare edible flavoring compound using lignocellulosic biomass of the coconut coir with the help of Bacillus aryabhattai, which has been done for the first time,” he said.

The research team said that during the study coconut coir was subjected to pretreatment and then dried for 72 hours at 50 degree celsius. It was then ground into fine powder. After the hydro-distillation of the coconut coir, it was digested at 100±2 degree celsius for an hour and then filtered and acidified to separate lignin and cellulose.

According to the researchers the extracted lignin was then subjected to fermentation using Bacillus aryabhattai. After fermentation, the broth was filtered, and the residue, known as the supernatant, was transferred to a separating funnel and extracted with ethyl acetate.“It was then centrifuged for 15 min, following which all the organic fractions were collected and concentrated using a rotary vacuum evaporator. The recovered flavor was tested for cell line study, which proved anti-cancerous activities against breast cancer,” they said.

Reference:

1. Discovering the Wonders of the Coconut - (https://ourworld.unu.edu/en/discovering-the-wonders-of-the-coconut)

Source: IANS