Available online www.jocpr.com Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Research, 2016, 8(2):106-113 Research Article ISSN : 0975-7384 CODEN(USA) : JCPRC5 106 Effect of processing on amygdalin and cyanide contents of some Nigerian foods Islamiyat Folashade Bolarinwa, Sulaiman Adebisi Ol Feyisayo Temilade Ayandokun and Ifasegun Alade Olaifa Department of Food Science and Engineering, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Nigeria _____________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT Amygdalin is a phyto-toxin which occurs in many plant species, of which a number of species are usually consumed by humans. Hydrolysis of amygdalin to produce hydrogen cyanide occurs during processing of plant foods. Consumption of food containing amygdalin and or cyanide can cause serious health problems to animals including humans. Amygdalin and cyanide were extracted from raw cassava roots, cassava products, processed fruit products, nuts, sorghum, cocoyam, bitter leaf, Africa star apple seeds and Cirina forda and determined using spectrophotometric method. The level of amygdalin and cyanide in some raw and processed Nigerian foods was investigated in this study. Our results showed that amygdalin content of cassava roots ranged from 8.8mg/g to 48.3mg/g. Amygdalin was completely hydrolyzed to cyanide during processing of cassava roots to garri and lafun. At each stage of garri and lafun production, amygdalin was not detected but cyanide was detected. The cyanide content of processed cassava was relatively low (5.2-19.1 ppm for garri and 3.5-13.2 ppm for lafun). Amygdalin content of processed fruit products was very low. The results showed that amygdalin and cyanide contents of most of the Nigerian foods analyzed in this study were low and are unlikely to cause health problems to consumers if adequately processed before consumption. Key words: Amygdalin, Cyanide, Hydrolysis, Cassava, phyto-toxin _____________________________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION Amygdalin is one of the most common cyanogenic glycosides. Cyanogenic glycosides are plant natural toxicant that has the ability to produce toxic hydrogen cyanide. Concentrations of cyanogenic glycosides vary widely in plants as a result of genetic and environmental factors, location, season and soil types [1, 2]. Cyanide concentrations vary from one plant variety to another, for example cassava may contain 15 – 400 mg equivalent cyanide/kg fresh weight. Occasionally, some varieties of cassava tubers may contain 1300 – 200 mg cyanide/kg fresh weight, and cassava leaves contain 1000 – 2000 mg equivalent cyanide/kg on a dry matter basis [3]. Enzymatic hydrolysis of cyanogenic glycosides in edible plants occurs during the preparation of foods. During food processing, enzyme β-glucosidase from the plant is responsible for the hydrolysis of cyanogenic glycosides to produce toxic hydrogen cyanide[4,5]. After food ingestion, glucosidases of the intestinal microflora and, to a lesser degree, those of the liver are responsible for the production of hydrogen cyanide from ingested cyanogenic plant foods [6,7]. aniyan*, Sogo james Olatunde