EVALUATION OF THE NUTRITIONAL POTENTIAL OF Ceiba pentandra LEAVES

Ceiba pentandra is a tropical tree of the order Malvales and of the family Malvaceae which was previously separated from the family Bombacaceae. Its leaf has been found to possess many medicinal and nutritional properties. Ceiba Pentandra is huge, wide and normally found in the wild forest of West Africa in the tropical forest regions. This work was carried out to investigate the potential nutritional values of Ceiba pentandra leaf with a view to evaluating the nutritional importance of the plant. This was achieved by evaluating the proximate, quantitative phytochemicals and vitamin constituents of the plant. The result of the proximate analysis revealed relatively high percentage of moisture (47.37%), protein (16.81%), carbohydrate (25.23%), low percentage of fibre (4.47%), fats (2.23%) and ash (2.14%). Results of the quantitative phytochemical analysis revealed alkaloids (4.887±0.07), terpenoids (0.934±0.011), flavonoids (20.147±0.651), polyphenol (99.34±0.753) and saponin (3.91±0.119). Also, the result of the vitamin composition showed the presence of vitamin A (2.323μg/g), vitamin C (0.6863mg/100g) and vitamin E (1.8836mg/100g). In the light of this investigation, Ceiba pentandra has been found to contain some nutrients and this supports its ethno-medicinal uses and therefore makes it a good source of nutrients and medicine that require special attention for development. Keywords: Ceiba pentandra, Nutrients, Proximate analysis, Vitamins and Malvales.