Title

Nutritional, Medicinal and Toxicological Attributes of Star-Fruits (Averrhoa carambola L.): A Review

Authors

Narmataa Muthu1, Su Yin Lee1, Kia Kien Phua2, Subhash Janardhan Bhore1, *

Affiliation

1Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Applied Sciences, AIMST University, Bedong-Semeling Road, Semeling 08100, Kedah, Malaysia; 2Institute for Research in Molecular Medicine (INFORMM), Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Penang, Malaysia;

Email

Subhash Janardhan Bhore – E-mail: subhash@aimst.edu.my; *Corresponding author

Article Type

Review

Date

Received October 2, 2016; Revised October 13, 2016; Accepted October 14, 2016; Published December 22, 2016

Plants are very complex organisms that produce medicinally important natural products. The Star-fruit producing plant (Averrhoa carambola L.) is a species of woody plant in the family Oxalidaceae native to the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka; but, cultivated in many parts of the world. Star-fruits are popular tropical fruits and used commonly in Ayurvedic and Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCM) in India, China, and Brazil to relieve ailments such as chronic headache, fever, cough, gastro-enteritis, diarrhoea, ringworm infections, and skin inflammations. However, this fruit contains high amount of oxalate, which is hazardous for uremic patients, and caramboxin (CBX), which is neurotoxic. The aim of this review is to highlight the nutritional, medicinal and toxicological traits of the star-fruits.

Keywords

Averrhoa carambola L., medicinal plants, nutrition, oxalic acid, star-fruits, toxicity

Citation

Muthu et al. Bioinformation 12(12): 420-424 (2016)

Edited by

P Kangueane

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.