Galactomannas and Diosgenin, Miracle of Natural Products Wenli Sun1, Mohamad Hesam Shahrajabian1, Hong Shen2, Mehdi Khoshkharam3 and Qi Cheng1,4* 1-Biotechnology Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China 2-College of Pharmaceutical Science, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China 3-Faculty of Agriculture, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Isfahan, Iran 4-College of Life Sciences, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, Hebei, 071000, China; Global Alliance of HeBAU-CLS&HeQiS for BioAl-Manufacturing, Baoding, Hebei 071000, China *Corresponding author E-mail: chengqi@caas.cn; hesamshahrajabian@gmail.com Received:10 June 2018 Accepted: 25 Desember 2018 Abstract Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) is an annual, self pollinating, legume crop believed to be native in the Mediterranean region and India. Major chemical constituents of fenugreek are polysaccharides, steroidal sapogenins, triterpenoids, flavonoids, phenolic compounds, and etc. Among them, galactomannas and diosgenins are two important bio-actives. This study aimed to review the importance and health benefits of galactomannas and diosgenin in Fenugreek. Galactomannas are industrial polysaccharides next to cellulose and starch. Fenugreek galactomannan is a heteropolysaccharide which reduce level of blood glucose level, normalize the surface activities inside the small intestine; they are also used in food products in order to increase the thickness of the water content. The most important health benefits of galactomanna are reduction in LDL cholesterol levels in hypercholesterolemic, blood lipids, blood pressure and fibrinolysis. It displays a number of promising properties and attributes for future application as therapeutic agents in biotechnology and other pharmaceutical sciences.
Diosgenin is an isospirostane derivative, it is a steroidal sapogenin and the product of acids or enzymes hydrolysis process of dioscin and protodioscin.
Diosgenin shows different biological activity like anti-oxidant, anti-diabetes, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer and anti-adipogenic. Considering tremendous health benefits and pharmaceutical properties of fenugreek in modern and traditional science, fenugreek as one of the oldest is recommend for future studies. Keywords: Fenugreek, Health Benefits, Bioactive Components, Galactomannans, Diosgenin, Pharmaceutical Science.