Alugbati has a pleasant, mild spinach flavor that some may find earthy. It is slimy when overcooked, which makes it an excellent thickening agent in soups and stews. The purplish dye from the ripe fruit is used as food color and as rouge for the face. The cooked roots are used to treat diarrhea, while cooked leaves and stems are used as laxative. The flowers are used as antidote for poison. A paste of the root is used as a rubefacient or applied to swellings. A paste of the leaves is applied externally to treat boils.
Per 100 grams (g) edible portion, alugbati leaves contain:
Water (g) - 92.5
Energy (kcal) – 23.0
Protein (g) - 2.0
Fat (g) - 0.3
Carbohydrates (g) - 3.0
Fiber (g) - 0.9
Ash (g) - 2.2
Calcium (mg) – 128.0
Phosphorous (mg) – 40.0
Iron (mg) – 4.9
Vitamin A (ug) - 456.0
Thiamine (mg) – 0.04
Riboflavin (mg) – 0.12
Niacin (mg) - 0.5
Ascorbic acid (mg) – 89.0
Source: The Philippine Food Composition Tables, 1997. Food and Nutrition Research Institute-Department of Science and Technology (FNRI-DOST).
Properties and constituents
• Demulcent, diuretic, emollient, laxative, rubefacient.
• Study isolated Basellasaponins A, B, C, and D, oleanane-type triterpenes oligoglycosides, together with betavulgaroside 1, spinacoside C, and momordins IIb and IIc, from fresh aerial parts.
Uses
Nutritional
Common market product, a popular leafy and stew vegetable, a good substitute for spinach.
The green and purple cultivated varieties are preferable to the wild ones.
Both the young shoots and stems are eaten.
Excellent source of calcium and iron; good source of vitamins A, B, and C, with a high roughage value.
Folkloric
Roots are employed as rubefacient.
Poultice of leaves used to reduce local swelling.
Sap is applied to acne eruptions to reduce inflammation.
Decoction of leaves used for its mild laxative effects.
Pulped leaves applied to boils and ulcers to hasten suppuration.
Sugared juice of leaves useful for catarrhal afflictions.
Leaf-juice, mixed with butter, is soothing and colling when applied to burns and scalds.
In Ayurveda, used for hemorrhages, skin diseases, sexual weakness, ulcers and as laxative in children and pregnant women.
In Nigeria, use for fertility enhancement in women.
Studies
• Anthocyanins / Natural Food Colorant : Study of pigment extracted from fruits of spinach vine (B. rubra) showed good stability with a potential as a natural food color.
• Antifungal: Study yielded two antifungal peptides with potent antivity against Botrytis cinerea, Mycosphaerella arachidicola and Fusarium oxysporum.
• Antimicrobial: A study of the aqueous, ethanolic and petroleum ether extracts of the leaves of Basella rubra exhibited antimicrobial activity against all test organisms except P aeruginosa. The ethanolic extract showed maximum effect against E coli. Further studies are needed to isolate the active compound responsible for the antimicrobial effect.
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