Fenugreek (Trigonella feonum-graecum L.) is an annual, forage-producing dicotyledon leguminous crop that is commonly used as a spice and herb.
In accordance with the saying of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) about black cumin and fenugreek seed, “they are the cure of every type of disease on earth except death,” Trigonella foenum graceum L belongs to the papilionaceae family. Its local names are Methi (Hindi), Methra, and Muthi (Punj), fenugreek, Greek hayes, and haye seeds (English).
Fenugreek (Trigonella feonum-graecum L.) is an annual, forage-producing dicotyledon leguminous crop that is commonly used as a spice and herb. It is native to a region extending from Iran to northern India but is now grown in China, North and East Africa, Ukraine, and Greece.
Fenugreek is one of the oldest medicinal plants recognized in recorded history; hence, it is called “an old world” crop for the “new world”.
It has a bitter taste due to the presence of alkaloids and oil components, which are non toxic on consumption; however, defatted fenugreek seeds are not bitter. Fenugreek genotypes differ in morphology, growth habit, biomass, and seed production capability.
The seed and, to a lesser extent, the leaves contain three very important components of significant medicinal importance: complex carbohydrates (galactomannan), steroidal sapogenins (diosgenin), and amino acids (isoleucine).
Nutrients And Nutraceutical Constituents Of Fenugreek
Fenugreek is a unique functional food crop. The chemical constituents of both seeds and leaves have made them valuable as food and medicine. The nutritional value includes several aspects that may be grouped into two categories: organoleptic properties and nutritious contents.
Fenugreek seeds are known and popular for their strong, spicy flavour, in addition to their high fibre content. The dried leaves of fenugreek are used as a quality flavour for meat, fish, and vegetable dishes.
Sotolon is the major chemical responsible for fenugreek’s distinctive sweet smell. Fenugreek seed contains volatile and fixed oils in small quantities. It also contains other components like lecithin and choline that help dissolve cholesterol and fatty substances, minerals, the B-complex, iron, phosphate, para-benzoic acid, and vitamins A and D.
Fenugreek is especially rich in choline. Both the seed and leaves contain high levels of vitamin C, nicotinic acid, and riboflavin. The seed is rich in thiamin and folic acid, but the leaves contain little or no folic acid. Beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A, is present in the leaves in relatively high amounts.
Medicinal uses and properties
Nature has been a source of medicinal treatments for thousands of years, and plant based systems continue to play an essential role in the primary health care of 80 % of the world’s developing and developed countries.
According to Ayurveda, plants have so many constituents that may be used for the treatment of so many diseases. Herbal drugs are easily available and have fewer side effects. People all over the world are now greatly attracted to herbal plant drugs. Fenugreek is easily available in our kitchen and has been used as a drug since the earliest times.
Fenugreek was used to ease childbirth and increase milk flow. It is still traditionally used as a remedy for various ailments; for instance, it is taken by Egyptian women for menstrual pain and as hilba tea to ease stomach problems of tourists. Fresh fenugreek leaves are used for the treatment of indigestion, flatulence, and a sluggish liver.
An infusion of the leaves is used as a gargle for recurrent mouth ulcers. A gargle made from the seeds is best for an ordinary sore throat. Fresh fenugreek leaf paste applied regularly over the scalp before bathing helps hair grow, preserves natural colour, keeps hair silky, and also cures dandruff.
Fenugreek seeds reduce the amount of calcium oxalate in the kidneys, which often contributes to kidney stones. Traditional Chinese herbalists used it for kidney problems and conditions affecting the male reproductive tract.
Properties
Fenugreek in various studies: antidiabetic; antiplasmodic; hypolipidemic; antibacterial; anthelmintic; anti-inflammatory and analgesic activity; antioxidant; anticarcinogenic; antiulcer; antifertility; immunomodulatory effect; enzymatic pathway modifier; activities
Antidiabetic activity
Preliminary animal and human trials suggest possible hypoglycemic and antihyperlipedemic properties of fenugreek seed powder taken orally.
Fenugreek has been well known to be used as an antidiabetic remedy for both type I and type II diabetes and has been extensively used as a source of antidiabetic compounds from its seeds, leaves, and extracts in different model systems.
About 25–50 g of fenugreek seeds were given to diabetic patients daily in their diet to prevent and manage long term complications of diabetes, and studies have been made about the glycemic index of fenugreek recipes, which showed that the soluble fenugreek fibre has significantly reduced the glycemic index.
25–50 g of fenugreek in the diet of diabetic patients (taken daily) can be an effective supportive therapy in the management of diabetes.
Antilipidemic activity
Fenugreek seeds have been shown to exhibit hypocholesterolemic effects and lower serum cholesterol, triglycerides, and low-density lipoprotein in hypercholesterolemia suffering patients and experimental models.
In obese patients, fenugreek consumption in the diet reduced triglyceride accumulation in the liver, while faecal bile acid and cholesterol excretion were increased by fenugreek administration.
Antioxidant activity
Fenugreek contains phenolic and flavonoid compounds that help enhance its antioxidant capacity. It has been suggested that fenugreek has powerful antioxidant properties that have a beneficial effect on the liver and pancreas.
Since antioxidant properties have been linked to the health benefits of natural products, such properties are studied with germinated fenugreek seeds, which are observed to be more beneficial than dried seeds because of the fact that germinated seeds increase the bioavailability of different constituents of fenugreek.
An aqueous fraction of fenugreek exhibits the highest antioxidant activity compared to other fractions, and the quantity of phenolic and flavonoid compounds is related to antioxidant activity.
Anticarcinogenic activity
Fenugreek is a promising medicinal herb for complementary therapy in cancer patients under chemotherapeutic interventions because fenugreek extract shows a protective effect by modifying cyclophosphamide induced apoptosis and free radical-mediated lipid peroxidation in the urinary bladder of mice.
Diosgenin is a crystalline steroid sapogenin found in fenugreek and used as a starting material for the synthesis of steroid hormones such as cortisone and progesterone.
Immunomodulatory effect
An agent that intensifies or diminishes immune responses is known as an immunomodulator, and such an effect is called an immunomodulatory effect.
Immunomodulatory substances interfere with three basic areas of the immune response directly or indirectly; the mucosal barrier function, the cellular defence function, and the local or systemic inflammatory response.
Benefits of Enzyme Activity and Metabolic Syndrome
Metabolic syndrome refers to the clustering of several cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors, including dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia, and increased blood pressure, where abdominal obesity and insulin resistance represent the core parameters of these clusters.
The aetiology of metabolic syndrome involves many complex biochemical pathways. Different mechanisms linking the symptoms have been postulated, all possibly hampering normal cardiovascular function. Increased levels of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), non-esterified fatty acids, LDL, and lipotoxicity may be related to insulin resistance.
The ability of fenugreek to restore to some extent the actions of key enzymes, in particular lipids and carbohydrates, in human subjects and animal models has been widely reported. Fenugreek administration restored the changed enzyme activities and partially normalised hyperglycemia.
Altered levels of superoxide dismutase, antioxidant enzymes catalase, and glutathione peroxidase in the liver and kidney of diabetic rats were corrected by treating them with insulin, vanadate, and fenugreek, and the combined dose of vanadate and fenugreek