Abstract

PHARMACOGNOSTICAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL STUDY OF GODHUMA BISCUIT - AN AYURVEDA NUTRITIVE FORMULATION

Pravin Masram*, Harisha CR, Patel KS, Kori VK, Rajagopala S, Shukla VJ

ABSTRACT

Nutritional diseases are by far the most common throughout the world, among them protein energy malnutrition is the commonest one. It is the most widespread health and nutritional problem in developing countries. A silent and largely invisible emergency, malnutrition plays a role in more than half of the nearly 11 million deaths each year among children under age five. Children in weaning period and those who have not fed properly with an appropriate food are more prone to malnutrition. So for the treatment of malnutrition, an Ayurvedic formulation of Godhuma (Wheat flour - GB) Biscuit was selected, it is a food of choice in weaning period. The present work was carried out to standardize the finished product GB to conform its identity, quality and purity. The pharmacognostical work reveals that presence of epidermal cell of wheat, simple starch grain with hilum, oil globules of ghee and simple fibers wheat was observed microscopically. Organoleptic features of coarse powder made out of the crude drugs were within the standard range as mentioned in the classic. The pH value of GB was 4, Water soluble extract was 1.34 %w/w, Loss on drying was 14.50 %w/w and High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC) at 254nm and 366nm resulted into 6 & 2 spots respectively.

Keywords: Godhuma Biscuit, HPTLC, Malnutrition, Pharmacognosy, Pharmaceutics.