Composition and in vitro Antioxidant Capacity of Super Bitters

Medicinal plants have been defined as those plants that can be used for the synthesis of useful drugs. Modern pharmacology had its origin in these medicinal plants and till date some drugs are products of active components from plants. Modern science may have widened for some time the differences in terms of medication between orthodox and unorthodox/traditional medicine but, this gap seems to be closing fast as the current trend is that they are both adopting practices from each other. The term “bitters” as it is used presently, is a beverage, often alcoholic, flavoured with herbal essences that gives it a bitter or bittersweet flavour. Bitters are made up of a numerous groups of chemical compounds extracted from the herbs and roots, they have the common characteristic of a bitter taste. The results indicate the presence of proteins, saponins, tannins, alkaloids, glycosides/reducing sugar, terpenoids and flavonoids. The chemical composition of these compounds confers the bitter taste that includes a complex pattern of molecular structures. Super bitters contain significant amounts of Na, K, P, Ca, Mg, Zn, Mn, Fe and Cu, while Pb, Cr and Se were not detected in them. The bitters can inhibit the DPPH radical and this confirms the antioxidant capacity of Super bitters.