Determination ursolic acid and antioxidantin Grass jelly (Mesona procumbens Hemsley.)

Abstract

Ursolic acid, a substance that is useful in prevention and treatment of diabetes. It can reduce
blood sugar levels, which would be beneficial for diabetic patients. It could also prevent and treat liver inflammation caused by chemicals. This experiment analyzed ursolic acid contents in dried and jelly products from a grass Mesona procumbens Hemsley. which used raw materials from Indonesian and China. It was found that dried grass from Indonesia contained 1,430 mg ursolic acid/kg and the jelly product made from this grass contained 2.28 mg ursolic acid/kg. While the dried grass from China contained 1,291 mg ursolic
acid/kg and its grass jelly had 1.99 mg ursolic acid/kg. Beside ursolic acid, the grass also had other beneficial antioxidant compounds, e.g. vanillic acid, caffeic acid and syringic acid which can inhibit cancer reduceinflammatory and increase immunity. From analyses, dried grass from China had vanillic acid, caffeic acid and syringic acid contents of 12.18, 172.59 and 8.00 mg/kg, respectively, while the jelly made from this grass contained 0.75, less than 0.02 and 0.73 mg/kg, respectively. Dried grass from Indonesian had vanillic acid, caffeic acid and syringic acid contents of 14.39, 453.91and 7.57 mg/kg, respectively, while the jelly made from this grass contained 0.30, less than 0.02 and 0.55 mg/kg, respectively.