Bitter leaf

The distribution of biologically active compounds in bitter leaf has not been fully established but in general, bitter leaves are rich in nutrients like proteins (up to 20 %), lipids (4.7 %), iodine (35.8 mcg), copper (6–10 mg/100 g), iron (5.14 %), vitamin A and E, thiamine and also a good amount of reducing sugars are present in the leaves. Phytochemicals like saponins, coumarins, flavonoids, lignans, alkaloids, xanthones are also present in the leaf, stem and roots of Vernonia amygdalina. (Egharevba, 2014). Fig. 1(a) shows a pictorial representation of V. amygdalina plant and (b) shows the washed bitter leaves. The nutritional and phytochemical components of the plant are also shown in Tables 1 and 2, respectively.