surprise to known the benefits of JAMUN

Jamun also known as Black plum,  jambolan,  Java plum . it is basically belong to Indian subcontinent, it is spread Overseas from India by emigrant, Jamun is an evergreen plant which is found in both wild as well as in cultivated form, mostly it is found everywhere like forest,  Garden, Bonsai.  It have oval green and one and half inch long fruits which turns purplish when ripen and dark blue when fully mature. It  has 1- 2 cm long seed inside, which taste bitter. plant  bears flowers in April - June and develops into fruit in June - July.

Nutritional value per 100 gram

Energy 51 k j, carbohydrate 14 g, dietary fibre 0.6 g, fat 0.23 g, protein 0.995 g,  thiamine (B1) 0.019 mg, riboflavin (B2) 0.009 mg,  niacin (B3) 0.245 mg,  Vitamin B6 0.038 mg,  Vitamin C 11.85 mg,  calcium 11.65 mg, iron 1.41 mg,  magnesium 35 mg, Phosphorus 15.6 mg, potassium 55 mg, sodium 26.2 mg.

Therapeutic effects of jamun

 Entire plant of S. cuminii (seeds, fruit pulp, leaves, flower and bark) is renowned for its medicinal value. Jamun encompasses its use in various traditional medicinal systems like Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathic and in Sri Lankan and Tibetan medicinal system of alternative and complementary medicines. History of medicinal usage of jamun is marked by its prescribed usance by Charkha and Sushruta for curing many diseases.

I- Therapeutic effects of jamun seeds

  Phytochemicals of jamun seeds are successively leading its usage in various diseases curing applications. The therapeutic effects are substantiated by pharmacological work as discussed below.

Antimicrobial

Effectiveness of jamun seed extract as antibacterial agent was reported by Bhuiyan et al against Bacillus cereus, B. subtilis, B. megateriun, Steptococcus betahaemolyticus, Staphylococcus aureus, Shigella dysenteriae, Sh. shiga, Sh. boydii, Sh. flexneriae, Sh. sonnei, Escherichia coli etc Chandrasekaran and Venkatesalu reported that the aqueous and methanolic extracts of jamun seeds possess antifungal activity against dermatophytic fungi, i.e., Candida albicans, Tricophyton rubrum, T. mentagrophytes and Microsporum gypseum . The methanolic extract is also reported to possess antifungal activity against Aspergillus niger.

Antioxidant 

Antioxidants control free-radicals which lead to several diseases and accelerate ageing. Several in vitro studies have demonstrated such potentiality using alcoholic extracts of the seed. The extracts could act in various ways by trapping free radical like superoxide, hydroxyl. Regarding in vivo studies in relation to skin carcinogenesis, it was reported that oral administration of the seed extract could significantly lower lipid peroxidation and increase the level of antioxidants both enzymatic (catalase and superoxide dismutase) and nonenzymatic (glutathione and vit-C)

Gastro-protective 

Chaturvedi et al reported effect of ethanolic extract of jamun seeds against gastric ulcers induced by cold restraint stress, aspirin, The mechanism of action was ascertained by decreased acid-pepsin secretion, cell shedding, lipid peroxidation and enhanced mucin and mucosal glycoprotein. The beneficial effects of the extract in diabetic rats with co-occurring gastric ulcer could be due to its antidiabetic and direct promoting effect on the gastric mucosal defense, as recommended by them.

Antidiabetic

A large stratum of population dwelling with lifestyle diseases like diabetes is inkling towards alternative medicine systems like Unani, Ayurvedic and others. Jamun seeds are prescribed widely in such medicine systems for controlling diabetes. Anti-diabetic effect of jamun seed has also been substantiated by many pharmacological studies. The studies carried out by Helmstadter and Kumar et al revealed considerable reduction in blood glucose level of induced diabetic animals when treated with jamun seed. Effectiveness of the extracts using different solvents has been explored by different scientists on different animal models. Rat studies have been successfully carried on alloxan induced diabetes, streptozotocin induced diabetes  and fructose induced model.

                         Studies have shown that jamun seeds also prevent diabetic induced secondary pathogenesis like kidney damage, neuropathy, gastropathy, diabetic cataract, peptic ulcer and weight loss. The seed also reduces hyperglycaemia induced oxidative stress by restoring levels of glutathione, increasing activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase and consequently decreasing the levels of lipid peroxidises. Thus, jamun seed could be considered as novel therapeutic armamentarium for treatment of diabetes.

Hypolipidemic

Alteration in lipid profile is one of the most common complications in diabetic mellitus and in that context hypolipidemic effect of jamun seed has been thoroughly studied on both alloxan and streptozotocin induced diabetic rats. Ethanolic extract of seeds is able to reduce the level of total serum cholesterol/high density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio, low density lipoproteins (LDL) and triglycerides

Cardioprotective 

Mastan et al reported beneficial effects of methanolic extract of jamun seeds on cardioprotection against isoproterenol-induced myocardial infarction in albino rats. The effect was probably related to strengthening of the myocardial membrane, induced by the phytochemicals like alkaloids, amino acids, flavonoids, glycosides, phytosterols, saponins, steroids, tannins and triterpenoids in the extract.

Immunomodulatory

The term immunomodulatory means regulation of the immune system by suppression and stimulation of cells and organs of the immune system. It is now being recognized that immunomodulatory therapy could be practiced as an alternative to conventional chemotherapy towards variety of diseased conditions.

Neuropsychopharmacological

Neuropsyschopharmacology is an approach to study the effect of functional component on the central nervous system (CNS) with respect to biochemical and behavioural changes in subject. Depressants for CNS are often prescribed by doctors.Chakraborty et alstudied neuropsychopharmacological effect with chloroform extract of jamun seed on rats. The study observed alteration in general behaviour pattern, reduction in spontaneous motility, hypothermia, potentiation of pentobaritone hypnosis, analgesia, reduction in exploratory behaviour pattern, muscle relaxation and suppression of aggressive behaviour, suggesting that organic extract of jamun seed possesses CNS depressant action. 

Radioprotective 

Radiotherapy is widely used for cancer treatment. Its advantages are countervailed by cytotoxic effects on normal tissues during usage. As a solution, incorporation of chemical compounds termed as radioprotectors, which selectively protect the normal cells from deleterious effect, is practised. Studies have supported radioprotective effect of jamun seed extract.

Anticlastogenic 

Anticlastogenic effect refers to protection against mutagenesis at chromosomal level. Recently, Arun et al have concluded that oral administration of aqueous extract to mice can enhance antioxidant defense leading to protective mechanism against genomic damage induced by the carcinogens.

 Chemopreventive

Parmar et al have reported that hydro-alcoholic extract of jamun seed possesses chemopreventive properties in the DMBA-induced and croton oil promoted skin carcinogenesis in Swiss albino mice.

Anti-inflammatory 

Several workers have reported anti-inflammatory effect of jamun seed extract on carrageenan induced odema. Kumar et al have reported anti-inflammatory effect using ethyl acetate and methanol extracts against paw oedema in wistar rats.

Antipyretic 

Antipyretic activity of jamun seeds has been reported by many scientists namely, Mahapatra et alwith methanol extract and Chaudhari et al with chloroform extract.

II- Therapeutic effect of jamun pulp and skin 

Jamun pulp and skin hold significant therapeutic effectuates due to the presence of anthocyanins and other phytochemicals. These phytochemicals possess several health benefits being antidiabetic, antioxidant, hepatoprotective, antibacterial and anti-cancerous.

Antidiabetic 

Hitherto, animal studies have been carried out to demonstrate antidiabetic property of jamun pulp. Achrekar et al first evidenced this pertaining property of aqueous extract on streptozotocin induced diabetic rats. On persuasion of this rat study, Rekha et alobserved that oral administration of the aqueous extract caused significant dose dependent decrease in blood glucose level with concomitant improvement in body weight. 

Antioxidant

Rekha et al studied in vivo antioxidant potential of aqueous jamun pulp extract in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats. The study reported significant increase in the level of superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione-S-transferase and reduced glutathione in liver tissue, professing jamun pulp as novel source for antioxidant in biological system.

Antibacterial

Recently, Patel and Rao reported antibacterial action of jamun pulp. The study was performed with extracts using different solvent systems (ethyl acetate, acetone, methanol, aqueous and diethyl ether) and different maturity index of the fruit pulp (young, premature, mature, preripened and ripened). The extracts asserted more effectiveness on Gram positive bacteria than Gram negative. Among different stages of maturity and the solvents used, the diethyl ether extract from preripened pulp was the most potential antimicrobial agent.

Anticancerous 

Anticancerous effect of jamun pulp has been successfully studied on human cervical carcinoma cell lines i.e. HeLa and SiHa using crude methanolic extract and breast cancer cells using hexane: acetone: methanolic extract. These in vitro oncological studies profess the potentiality of jamun pulp extracts towards inhibition and death of cancerous cells.

Food potential of jamun 

Jamun is luscious when consumed fresh with salt. However, its seasonal availability with high perishability have raised the need for preservation of jamun either as such or as processed food and beverage prepared thereof. Recent conceptual enlightenments on functional food i.e., health benefits driven from the food itself, are triggering various scientific investigation. Some products of jamun have already been made available commercially in the form of jamun powder, jamun juice, jamun wine, jamun jam, jamun chips etc

            Whole contour of jamun comprising peel, pulp and seed is a rich source of phytochemicals including phenolic as well as non-phenolic bioactives. Pharmacological studies relate the phytochemicals to provide diversified therapeutic effects like antioxidative, anticancerous, antidiabetic, antimicrobial, radioprotective and others, the most widely investigated one being the ameliorating action against Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Further studies are required to identify the principal functional component responsible for such functions.