Langsat peel a potential source of natural antioxidants
Langsat (Lansium domesticum) is a tropical fruit that is commonly cultivated in Southeast Asia. The fruit is rich in fibre, vitamins and minerals, while the peel of langsat contains phenolics and carotenoids, and is traditionally used as an anti-diarrhoea medicine. Anti-oxidative components found in medicinal fruits such as langsat are natural alternatives to synthetic antioxidants (such as butylated hydroxytoluene and tertiary butylhydroquinone), which are added to food as preservatives despite being potentially carcinogenic. Past research has shown that some tropical fruits have higher antioxidant activity in their peel than in their pulp, but the literature on the presence of antioxidant in the peel of langsat has been scarce in Malaysia.