J Food Sci Nutr ISSN: 2470-1076, Open Access Journal DOI: 10.24966/FSN-1076/100003 Introduction Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench is considered as the ffh most important cereal grain cultivated worldwide. Te cereal is considered as an important staple food and medicinal crop consumed by over 750 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and India [1,2]. *Corresponding author: Abugri DA, Department of Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences, Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, AL 36088, USA, Tel: +1 3347244264; E-mail: dabugri@mytu.tuskegee.edu Citation: Abugri DA, Akudago JA, Pritchett G, Russell AE, McElhenney WH (2015) Comparison of Phytochemical Compositions of Sorghum Bicolor (L) Moench Red Flour and Pale Brown Leaves. J Food Sci Nutr 1: 003. Received: December 08, 2014; Accepted: June 10, 2015; Published: June 24, 2015 Te grains have numerous benefts ranging from nutritional, chemical, pharmaceutical and food colorant [1,3-6]. In the USA, the cereal is used primarily for feeding animals and possibly ethanol production [7]. Although these uses of the grains are widely known, the leaf especially the pale brown type also have many potential uses which have not been exploited in the past partly because of lack of characterization of the leaf constituents and availability of ethnomedical information across countries. Furthermore, in Northern Ghana, the traditional folks use the leaves as herbal medicine for management of diseases such as anemia and iron defciency [6]. Scientifc information on phytochemical compounds composition of the Red S. bicolor pale brown leaves consumed in some African countries by humans and animals is scarce. Based on the numerous folk medicine benefts that the red Sorghum bicolor pale leaves provide to consumers in some West African countries (e.g., Ghana), a thorough characterization of the diferent stages of the color of the S. bicolor leaves used in diferent food preparations, herbs and feed formulations is warranted. In this present study, the levels of the phenolic acids, favonoids, condensed tannins, chlorophylls, carotenoids, and fatty acid composition in the red Sorghum bicolor pale leaves were compared to the four made from the sorghum grains that is used by people in Africa (especially in Ghana, Nigeria, Togo and Burkina Faso). Materials and Methods Samples collection and preparation of extracts Sorghum bicolor (L) Moench pale brown dry leaves and sorghum gains were obtained from the upper east region (Bolgatanga) of Ghana. Te pale leaves were harvested prior to complete maturations of the seeds, this part of the leave is diferent from the red leaves in that, the red leaves occur when the plant completely matures and ready for harvesting. Flour was made from the grain, and the pale leaves were ground using a cofee miller and sieved with a particle size less than 2mm for sub sampling for the various assays according to Abugri et al. [6]. All samples were stored in amber bottles prior to analysis. All chemicals were of HPLC and ACS grade. Epigallocatechin, naringenin and apigenin were obtained from Santa Cruz biotechnology Inc. Santa Cruz, California, USA. Gallic acid, vallic acid, salicylic acids, Folin-Ciocalteu reagents were obtained from Sigma Aldrich USA. A total of 30.0mL was used for extraction of compounds with a solvent mixture (Acetone: Hexane (HPLC grade)) in a ratio of 4:6. Methanol (LC-MS, HPLC, Spectrophotometry grade) and ethanol (99.9% AC reagent (2000 proof) all purchased from Fisher scientifc, USA, were added to each test tube with 0.300g sample of four or powdered leaves. Te tubes were capped tightly with Tefon caps and incubated at 30°C for 20mins according to the procedure of Abugri et al., [6]. Samples were vortexed for 3mins and then centrifuged for 5mins using a clinical table top centrifuge (IEC Centra, CL2, International Equipment Company, Needham Heights, Abugri DA, et al., J Food Sci Nutr 2015, 1: 003 DOI: 10.24966/FSN-1076/100003 HSOA Journal of Food Science and Nutrition Research Article Abugri DA 1 *, Akudago JA 2 , Pritchett G 1 , Russell AE 1 and McElhenney WH 3 1 Department of Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences, Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, AL, USA 2 Pacifc Institute, Oakland, CA, USA 3 Department of Agriculture and Environmental Science, College of Agriculture, Environment and Nutrition Science, Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, AL, USA Comparison of Phytochemical Compositions of Sorghum Bicolor (L) Moench Red Flour and Pale Brown Leaves Abstract There are increasing demands in plant derived natural food and their bioactive compounds with pharmaceutical, nutritional and health functional properties. No evidence exists regarding the bioactive and nutritive compounds of the red S. bicolor pale brown leaves which are consumed directly or indirectly as spice and herbs by humans and animals in some West Africa countries. We compared chlorophyll, carotenoids, phenolic acids, favonoids, tannins, and fatty acid profle(s) of the four and the pale brown leaves and their nutritional implication. The leaves were found to contain higher concentrations of total tannins (194.50-995.72mg/g), total phenolic (16.63-102.82mg/g), and favonoids (0.20-0.36mg/g) and important essential fatty acids such as α-LA, EPA and DHA than the four at P ˂0.05. These fndings are the frst of its kind in the leaves and suggest that red sorghum four and its pale leaves may be a valuable health and nutrition promoting functional food that could fght against infectious and cardiovascular related illness in humans and animals. Keywords: Bioactive; Health; Leaves; Nutrition; Phenolic; Sorghum four