Aegle Marmelos Correa
Bael or Aegle Marmelos Correa also known as Wood Apple has been used as a spiritual and medicinal plant native to India and Bangaladesh. Typically this fruit requires 11 months to ripen.
In a few parts of the world this fruit has also been called the Elephant apple because elephants highly enjoy this fruit. The pulp can be consumed raw, however it is more enjoyable when frozen and made into a paste or jam. This same pulp can be mixed with coconut milk for a highly delicious ice cream style dish.
Benefits of Aegle Marmelos Correa
Aids In Digestion – Unripe wood apple fruit is generally free from visible fungal growth before and at harvest but a succession of fungi appears on the fruit shell, and sometimes in the pulp, during ripening. Levels of reducing sugars were very low in the unripe fruit pulp but increased by about five times during ripening. Levels also increased in the fruit shell and its washings. The possible role of these factors in restricting fungal growth in unripe fruits is discussed.(Article)
Antimicrobial – The essential oil isolated from the leaves of A. marmelos tree has proved to have antifungal activity against animal and human fungi like Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Trichophyton rubrum, Microsporum gypseum, Microsporum audounii, Microsporum cookie, Epidermophyton floccosum, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus and Histoplasma capsulatum
Radioprotective Effects – In 2004, Jagetia et al. showed that intraperitoneally used hydroalcoholic leaf extract of A. marmelos in mice increases its survival rate when the mice are exposed to lethal dose of 10 Gy of g-radiation. AME treatment reduced the symptoms of radiation-induced sickness and increased survival. The radioprotective action might be due to free-radical scavenging and arrest of lipid peroxidation accompanied by an elevation in glutathione.
The irradiation caused a dose-dependent decline in survival, while treatment of mice with AME enhanced survival. The dose reduction factor was 1.15. Irradiation caused a dose-dependent decline in the level of glutathione accompanied by an elevation in lipid peroxidation. AME pretreatment arrested glutathione decline and lipid peroxidation significantly.
Anti-Cancer – Preclinical studies have shown that A. marmelos leaf extracts were effective in inhibiting the growth of leukemic K562, T-lymphoid Jurkat, B-lymphoid Raji, erythroleukemic HEL, melanoma Colo38, and breast cancer cell lines MCF7 and MDA-MB-231. The antiproliferative activity of these compounds was found to be comparable to that of known antitumor agents, including cisplatin, chromomycin, cytosine arabinoside and 5-fluorouracil. In addition, the antiproliferative activity of butyl-p-tolyl sulfide, 6-methyl-4-chromanone and 5-methoxypsolaren was associated to activation of the differentiation pattern of K562 cells.
Chemopreventive – Gupta et al. showed that A. marmelos fruit extracts has chemopreventive role against DMBA-induced skin carcinogenesis in mice. The Skin carcinogenesis model in experimental animals has been found useful for investigating the influence of dietary chemopreventors both mechanistically and operationally. The present study demonstrates that topical administration of Aegle marmelos fruit extract on DMBA induced skin tumorigenesis showed a significant reduction in tumor incidence, tumor burden, tumor size and cumulative no. of papillomas with a significant increase in the average latent period of tumor appearance and GSH levels.
Antidiarrhoeal – Mazumder et al. performed in vitro and in vivo antidiarrhoeal potential of chloroform extract of the root of A. marmelos. In vitro study was found that the extract was comparable to that of ciprofloxacin and mostly active against the strains of Vibrio cholerae, followed by Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Shigella. Further, Aegle marmelos root extract (AMRE) treated animals showed significant inhibitory activity against castor oil-induced diarrhoea. The results so obtained thus established the efficacy of AMRE as an effective antidiarrhoeal agent.(Article)
Ulcer Healing – The aqueous extract was also found to possess significant (P<0.05) ulcer healing property at the same doses as of methanolic extract. A significant reduction in volume of gastric juice, free acidity and total acidity, along with increase in pH was observed in pylorus ligated rats. The antiulcer property of both the extracts was attributed due to the presence of quercetin like (flavonoid) contents. Pretreatment with AM fruit pulp extract for 14 consecutive days showed the reverse effects of aspirin suggesting gastro-duodenal protective and anti- ulcerogenic properties of AM through its antioxidant mechanism.
Anti-Inflammatory – Different organic extracts of the A. marmelos leaves possess highly significant acute and subacute anti-inflammatory activity. A. marmelos showed significant anti-inflammatory activity and it can be a promising anti-inflammatory agent. The PI with indomethacin and Bilwa in carrageenan induced paw edema were 52.7% and 46% and in cotton pellet induced granuloma were 24.7% and 9.2% respectively. Indomethacin showed highly significant anti-inflammatory activity in both the models. As Bilwa showed significant anti-inflammatory activity in the models studied, it can be a promising anti-inflammatory agent.
