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A Review on Health Benefits of Lotus Seeds (Nelumbo nucifera)
Article · December 2019
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JASC: Journal of Applied Science and Computations ISSN NO: 1076-5131
A Review on Health Benefits of Lotus Seeds (Nelumbo nucifera)
[Link] Hajela1, [Link] Srivastava2, Ms, JasnoorKaur3
1,2,3
Assistant Professor
Department of Nutrition and Dietetics
University Institute of Allied Health Sciences (UIAHS)
Chandigarh University, Gharuan
Mohali (Punjab)
Email: [Link]@[Link]
[Link]@[Link]
[Link]@[Link]
Introduction
Lotus is one of the most important perennial plants with both floating and aerial orbicular
leaves. Leaves which are floating have flat shape whereas the aerial leaves are cup shaped.
Nelumbo nucifera or lotus is an aquatic rhizomatous herb consists of elongated, slender,
nodal roots with creeping stem. The average diameter of the flower is 10–25 cm, and it is
glabrous and ovoid. Fruit that contains seeds, are black in color, and are ovoid and hard are
arranged in whorls; seeds ripens and are releases as a result of bend down of pod towards
the water. Tuberous roots have certain dimension like they are 8 inches long and 2 inches in
diameter. Lotus is popular among Asian countries as an economically important aquatic
vegetable. Also, China is the country who is the largest producer and consumerwith of
45,000 tons of dry seeds in the world, in the area of approx. 0.5–0.7 million hectares of land
per years.
(Photo courtesy: Raymond Bucko.)
A lotus nut or a lotus seed is the seed of a plant in the genus Nelumbo, particularly the
species Nelumbo nucifera. These seeds are used in different cuisine of Asia and in number of
traditional medicine. They are popularly sold in shelled, dried form. The seeds are rich
contents of B vitamins, dietary fiber and proteins.
Nelumbo nucifera comes under the family Nelumbonaceae, which are having various local
tribal names (Indian lotus, bean of India, sacred lotus and Chinese water lily) and several
botanical names (N. speciosum , N. speciosa, NelumbiumNelumboand Nymphaeanelumbo).
Depending upon the history, this beautiful flowering aquatic plant has been honored in the
history by three countries: India,China and Egypt. Traditionally, lotus seeds also areused to
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JASC: Journal of Applied Science and Computations ISSN NO: 1076-5131
treat several ailments, including poor digestion, fever,insomnia, palpitations, tissue
inflammation , enteritis, chronic diarrhoea and cancer. It has been approved of use as “both
medicine and food” by the Ministry of Health of the People’s Republic of China. On the
dietary perspective, almost all the parts of the lotus plant are used in preparing various
cuisines depending upon the culturaldiversity. Also, the history reveals that sacred blue
lotus (Nymphaeacaerulea) was widespread and distributed along the Nile river banks
Different place of world is having its very own culture of the traditional medicine, for
instance, Unani medicine was originated in Arab countries/middle east, ayurvedic medicine
originated from Southeast Asia, and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and acupuncture
originated in China. Herbal plants contain secondary metabolite like, terpene,
steroids,alkaloids, glycosides, flavonoids, tannins, and many more.
Plant details-
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Sub Kingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular Plants
Super Division: Spermatophyta – Seed Plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering Plants
Class: Magnoliopsida; Subclass: Magnoliidae
Super order: Protaenae
Order: Proteales
Family: Nymphaeaceae– Lotus Family
Genus: NelumboAdans – Lotus
Species: NelumbonuciferaGaen. – Sacred lotus.
Lotus seeds are the edible kernels of the lotus plant. These seeds are enclosed inside the
"water can spout-like" fruit pod, arranged in a concentric fashion.
Since ancient times, lotus flowers, roots and seeds esteemed in the Chinese and Japanese
cultures. The seeds, symbolises the complete representation of all the four cardinal
elements of nature- air, earth, water and heat. Though being a perennial plant, this plant
flowers each year completing the cycle fro dormant, flowers, root eruption and seeds and
again assuming dormant state again during winter. The roots and stem grow under the
water, whereas its large green leaf pads and flowers float on the water surface.
Types
According to few studies “Two types of dried lotus seeds can be found commercially; white
and brown peel. The former is harvested when the seed head is still fully green but with
almost fully developed seeds and the latter is harvested when the seed head of the lotus is
ripe or nearly ripe and the. White lotus seeds are de-membrane and de-shelled. At harvest,
the bitter-tasting germ of most seeds is removed using a hollow needle. Brown peel lotus
seeds are gross brown because the ripened seed has adhered to its membrane. Some
people who sells the dried lotus seeds, bleaches their products with sodium hydroxide,
hydrogen peroxide, or other chemicals.”
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JASC: Journal of Applied Science and Computations ISSN NO: 1076-5131
Nutritional value
These lotus seeds are exclusively consumed as food in Japan and China. These seeds could
be eaten roasted, raw, or boiled into a paste or syrup or ground and used as ingredient in a
various traditional desserts of Japan. The roasted seeds are the substitute forgood coffee
and containsphenolics, saponins and carbohydrates in great quantities
According to some studies, “the lotus rhizomes consist of 1.7% protein, 0.1% fat, 9.7%
carbohydrate, and 1.1% ash (Reidm,1977). Their stem area contains 6, 2.4, and 0.2 mg/100 g
of calcium, iron, and zinc, respectively (Ogle et al., 2001). The mature seeds of N. nucifera
consist of around 8-10% moisture, 25% protein, 3.7% crude fat, 65% carbohydrate, 3-4%
crude fibre, 4% ash, and contain 388 cal/100 g of energy. Mineral composition of 100 g of
lotus seeds consists of sodium (7.86 mg), potassium (48.5 mg), calcium (313 mg),
phosphorus (6.25 mg), magnesium (43.9 mg), copper (2.51 mg), zinc (7.72 mg), manganese
(16.6 mg), iron (16.4 mg), and selenium (1.04 mg). Lotus seed flour has a lipid composition
of 19.50 mg/g of polyunsaturated fatty acids and 5.05 mg/g of saturated fatty acids oleic,
where linoleic acid is the most abundant unsaturated fatty acid, and palmitic acid is the
most abundant saturated acid.”
Major health benefits of Lotus Seeds
Anti-ischaemic activity: The seed of the planthas shown potent anti-ischaemic effects in the
rat’s isolated heart. The effective amount of seed extract against ischaemia induced in the
isolated rat heart was assessed by measuring cardiac output, blood pressure, aortic flow and
coronary flow; doses of 0.1–30 mg/ml were tested. The 3 mg/ml dose was determined to be
the perfect dosage for anti-ischaemic effects. [Link] extract has distinct anti-ischemic
effects through calcium antagonism.
Anti-inflammatory effect: The seed extract of the plant, at a dose of 10 mg/kg, inhibits the
initiation of pro-inflammatory cytokine tumour necrosis factor-a (TNF-a) and it also
increases anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 in female BALB/c mice with systemic
inflammation . Studies in LPS-challenged mice stated“that a high dose of 20 mg/day of seed
extract significantly decreased TNF-a levels in the serum and significantly increased the
levels of IL-10 produced by peritoneal macrophages. This result demonstrated that
administration of the [Link] seed extract before systemic inflammation attenuates
acute inflammation in vivo”
Hepatoprotective activity: An extract of the seed of [Link] is ethanolicwas studied
for itshepatoprotective effects in aflatoxin B1 and carbon tetrachloride- induces
hepatotoxicity models. By the ethanolic extract at concentrations between 10 and 500
mg/mlin a dose-dependent manner it has been observed that cell death caused by carbon
tetrachloride was significantly inhibited . The same extract lessens the genotoxicity of
aflatoxin B1 and shows complete inhibition at a concentration of 250 mg per plate.
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JASC: Journal of Applied Science and Computations ISSN NO: 1076-5131
Anti-fibrosis effect: On the basis of a study “The inhibitory effect of isoliensinine isolated
from the seeds of [Link] was studied on bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in mice.”
Prolonged Administration of isoliensininesignificantly decreased the growth in
hydroxyproline content and subside the lung tissue injury inititaed by bleomycin. Also, it
enhanced SOD activity and decreasedmalondialdehyde levels in a very
concentrationdependent manner. Moreover, isoliensininetremendously inhibits the over-
expression of TNF-α and transforms the growth factor- β (TGF- β) which has been initiated
by bleomycin. Also, the results have shown that isoliensinine possessed significant inhibitory
activity against bleomycin which thereby induces pulmonary fibrosis, probably due to its
antioxidant and/or anti-inflammatory activities and inhibitory effect on TNF-a and TGF-b
induced by bleomycin.
Diuretic effect:It also is associated with the diuretic activity. It should be noted that “The
methanol extract of the rhizome induced significant diuresis in rats at doses of 300, 400 and
500 mg/kg. There was a dosedependent increase in the volume of urine, with Na+ and
Clexcretion, accompanied by a significant excretion of K+ . The increase in volume of urine
was less than with the standard diuretic Furosemide (20 mg/kg).” There was an enormous
increase in chlorureticand natriuretic activity but natriuresiswas more thankaliuresis
Antioxidant activity: The potential of lotus seedshelps to destroy 1,1-diphenyl-2-
picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radicals and peroxynitrites (ONOO–), also the inhibition of total
ROS generation by kidney homogenates using 2v,7’-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate
(DCHF-DA) was [Link] methanol extract showed strong antioxidant activity in the
ONOO– system and marginal activity in the DPPH and total ROS systems. Similarly, seven
known flavonoids were isolated from lotus stamens, most of which also showed potent
antioxidant activity. The glycosides nelumboroside A, nelumboroside B, isorhamnetin
glycoside and isorhamnetinrutinoside isolated from N. nucifera stamens showed potent
antioxidant activity in DPPH and ONOO– assays. ‘Yunyupju’, a liquor made from the
blossoms and leaves of lotus, has been reported to have antioxidant activity. The maximum
scavenging activity on hydroxyl radicals (40%) could be achieved when lotus liquor was
more than 500 µg. Lotus liquor also has a potent superoxide radical scavenging activity with
value of 0.93 unit mg−1 as superoxide dismutase equivalents with an IC50 value of 1.07 ±
0.04 mg
Background
According to a research article Songklanakarin Journal of Science and Technology SJST-2017-
“Thai lotus seeds are rich in nutrients and antioxidants, which makes them interesting
substitutes in food products. Lotus seeds can be produced into flour which can be separated
into pre-gelatinized lotus seed flour (PLF) and into native lotus seed flour (NLF). The physical
properties of both types of lotus seed flours expressed nonsignificant differences in swelling
power and solubility, whereas the NLF had a higher viscosity and higher protein, fiber, and
phenolic contents than PLF (p<0.05).”Another review study published in International
Journal of Life Sciences says that “Extracts from different parts of the lotus plant have been
reported to show several biological activities, such as antioxidant, free radical scavenging,
anti-inflammatory, and immuno-modulatory activities.”In addition to this, some work has
been done in identifying and isolating the proteins responsible for these activities. To date,
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JASC: Journal of Applied Science and Computations ISSN NO: 1076-5131
there is no report on systematic protein analysis of the lotus plant. In this review, we discuss
the medicinal value of the lotus plant and reported works on its biological activities. We also
present a proteomics approach for systematic investigation of the lotus seed proteome.
According to another review on therapeutic potential of nelumbonucifera (gaertn) : the
sacred lotus published in International Journal Of Pharmaceutical Sciences And Research-
“The pharmacological studies have shown that N. nucifera possesses various
pharmacological activities like anti-ischemic, antioxidant, anticancer, antiviral, antiobesity,
lipolytic, hypocholestemic, antipyretic, hepatoprotective, hypoglycemic, antidiarrhoeal,
antifungal, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and diuretic activities. Several different types of
compounds have been derived from this plant belonging to different chemical groups,
including alkaloids, flavonoids, glycosides triterpenoid, etc., with own therapeutic impact.”
Conclusion
The perennial aquatic herb, Nelumbo nucifera, belonging to family Nymphaeaceae, is
popular because of their nutraceutical and historical importance. It is used in the treatment
of various cancer, bleeding disorders, tissue inflammation, diabetes , skin diseases and
cardiovascular diseases as mentioned in the traditional system of medicines. Conducting
and documenting the evidence based researches to reveal the possible mechanism of action
regarding those effects are today’s necessity. Also, it will be of economic value if it can be
developed as functional food.
References
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
S. S. Lim, Y. J. Jung, S. K. Hyun, Y. S. Lee, and J. S. Choi, “Rat lens aldose reductase inhibitory
constituents of Nelumbonucifera stamens,” Phytotherapy Research, vol. 20, no. 10, pp.
825–830, 2006.
T. Mahmood and N. Akhtar, “Combined topical application of lotus and green tea improves
facial skin surface parameters,” Rejuvenation Research, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 91–97, 2013.
Volume 5, Issue 4, April /2018 Page No:96
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