ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to judge the antioxidant activity and brine shrimp lethality bioassay followed by phytochemical screening of five different extracts of Moringa oleifera leaves. Preliminary Phytochemical screening of the crude extracts of Moringa oleifera leaf revealed the presence of different kind of chemical groups such as Flavonoids, tannin, Saponin, alkaloids, glycosides, carbohydrate and Triterpenoids. The leaf exhibited significant DPPH free radical scavenging activity with highest IC50 value showed by chloroform extract with a value of 47.481 μg/ml followed by ethanol and methanol having value of 62.09 and 68.321 respectively as opposed to that of the scavenging effects of ascorbic acid and BHT of 5.698 and 8.816 respectively. Dried leaf of Moringa oleifera were subjected to brine shrimp lethality bioassay and the LC50 values of methanol, ethanol, petroleum ether, n-hexane and chloroform were found to be 0.747μg/ml, 0.712 μg/ml, 1.632 μg/ml, 2.163 μg/ml and 0.633 μg/ml respectively. The data obtained in the present study suggests that the extracts of Moringa oleifera leaves have potent antioxidant activity against free radicals and significant cytotoxic activity that can be used in disease prevention.
ABSTRACT
Chronic malnutrition is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality among preschool children and the future productivity of nations. To understand the prevalence of chronic malnutrition and to identify the factors affecting height-for-age z-score (HAZ) among preschool children, a cross-sectional study was conducted among 380 randomly-selected children aged less than five years in Dhaka city, Bangladesh. Results of analysis of this study data revealed that the prevalence of stunting among preschool children in Dhaka city was 39.5%, with 25% severely stunted and 14% moderately stunted (p<0.001). Results of bivariate analysis revealed that socioeconomic and demographic factors were most significantly associated with the stunting of children. Children were found to be well-nourished if their parents had a tertiary-level education or higher and if the mother held a job and had good knowledge of nutrition. Well-nourishment of the children were also associated with the height of mothers (above 148 cm), good family educational background, normal birthweight, greater frequency of food intake (more than six times/day), and fewer fever episodes in the last six months. Results of multivariate linear regression models showed that height of mothers, birthweight of children, education of fathers, knowledge of mothers on nutrition, and frequency of feeding were the most significant factors that had an independent and direct influence on the stunting of children. To achieve the Millennium Development Goal target of 34% malnutrition prevalence by 2015, it is important to have specific government intervention to focus on the causes that directly influence the stunting of children.