Variation of Pinitol Content for Domestic Legume Species in Korea

This study was designed to investigate variation of pinitol content in different parts of seventeen legume species including silk tree (Albizia julibrissin). D-pinitol has been demonstrated to exert insulin-like and anti-inflammatory effects. These legumes were collected from Gyeongsangbuk-Do in Korea. Significant difference in pinitol content was observed among 17 different legume species. However, it was the highest in sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata). The highest pinitol content was observed in leaf followed by stem, pod shell, seed and root among plant parts. Legume plants which had higher pinitol content in leaves were chinese pea shrub, bastard indigo, wild cowpea and sericea lespedeza, having 59.9 mg/g, 62.2 mg/g, 69.6 mg/g and 65.4 mg/g, respectively. Stem of astragali radix showed the highest pinitol content among all leagumes, which was 34.0 mg/g. In case of root, kudzuvine showed the highest pinitol content followed by licorice and chinese pea shrub, which were 24.6 mg/g, 16.9 mg/g, and 16.5 mg/g, respectively. However, in the case of pod shell and seed, only lablab purpureus and sericea lespedeza showed the highest pinitol content 52.5 mg/g (for pod shell) and 24.9 mg/g (for seed), respectively. Concluding, the sericea lespedeza showed the highest total pinitol content of whole plant followed by chinese redbud, chinese pea shrub, bastard indigo and silk tree. Considering the pinitol content and harvesting yield, sericea lespedeza can be used as a practical medicinal herb.