ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Environmental, Antimicrobial, and Nutritional
Evaluation of Clitoria ternatea Flower Extracts:
Implications for Food and Health Applications
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1
Department of Food Science and Nutrition, College of Sciences, Taif University,
P.O. Box 11099, Taif, 21944, Saudi Arabia
2
Program of Food Sciences and Nutrition, Turabah University College, Taif University,
P.O. 11099, Taif, 21944, Saudi Arabia
3
Department of Food and Nutrition, Faculty of Human Sciences and Design, King Abdulaziz University,
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
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University Medical Clinics, Taif University, Taif, Saudi Arabia
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Department of Medical Laboratory Technology, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, University of Tabuk,
Tabuk, 71491, Saudi Arabia
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Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, 21959, Saudi Arabia
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Department of Clinical Nutrition, Riyadh Third Health Cluster, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, 13424, Saudi Arabia
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Clinical Nutrition Department, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Taibah University, Madinah, Saudi Arabia
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Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, University of Ha’il, Ha’il, 81442, Saudi Arabia
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Department of Biology, College of Science, King Khalid University, Abha 7044, Saudi Arabia
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Department of Biology, Al-Jumum University College, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, 21955, Saudi Arabia
Submission date: 2025-09-13
Final revision date: 2025-11-17
Acceptance date: 2025-11-24
Online publication date: 2026-03-23
Corresponding author
Rokayya Sami
Department of Food Science and Nutrition, College of Sciences, Taif University,
P.O. Box 11099, Taif, 21944, Saudi Arabia
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Clitoria ternatea, also known as butterfly pea or blue pea, has many pharmacological and nutritional
values. Stock solutions of flower extracts were prepared in different solvents, i.e., methanol (M), water
(W), ethanol (E), glycerol (G), and glycerol/water (GW) to get extracts coded as (ME), (WE), (EE),
(GE), and (GWE), respectively. A number of evaluations, such as microbial evaluation, phytochemical
properties, mineral contents, and antioxidant activities, have been conducted on the blue flowers.
The titration acidity reported 0.018 g citric acid/100 mL (CA) with a pH of 8.1. The total monomeric
anthocyanin of blue pea flower was reported to be 77.31 mg/L cyanidin-3-glucoside according to the spectrophotometric assay. The hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity value of the ethanolic blue
pea extract reported IC50 = 25.37%. The results of the FRAP scavenging activity were expressed as IC50
(%) and mg TE/L to reach IC50 = 5.44% and 15.28 mg TE/L. The ethanolic extract was the most effective
in the DPPH scavenging activity (EE) (IC50 = 14.11 m g/mL), followed b y ME ( IC50 = 12.25 m g/mL),
and WE (IC50 = 6.77 mg/mL). EE and WE reported the lowest values for total flavonoid contents
(3.75 mg QEg-1 and 2.49 mg QEg-1, respectively). The antibacterial analysis reported the highest value,
25.14 mm, for Escherichia coli, followed by 20.87 mm for Bacillus cereus. The results for the cytotoxic
impacts on Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 (MCF-7) breast cell lines demonstrated that the highest
concentrations (500 μg/mL and 1000 μg/mL) showed significant cytotoxicity activities, lowering
viability to <15%. Pea flowers can be considered as a food additive in acidic or even neutral foods.
The high nutrient (anthocyanin and flavonoids) levels in blue pea flowers tend to increase their
functional properties, such as antioxidant, antibacterial, and anticancer activities.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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