Baccaurea motleyana (Rambai): nutritional, phytochemical, and medicinal overview

Abstract

Baccaurea motleyana (Rambai) is a widely known plant for its fruits in South-East Asia, especially in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. Traditionally it is also used as a source of medicine. In this review, we summarized the use of Rambai as a food source, its physicochemical, nutritional, biochemical, and antioxidant contents, and properties, its use as traditional medicine, and its medicinal properties based on modern studies. We found that Rambai fruits are good sources of carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, and minerals. Rambai fruits have relatively low amounts of fats, organic acids, phenolics, and antioxidants compared to many other familiar fruits. 88 phytochemicals identified by different methods are reported in this paper which have a variety of health benefits and medicinal properties. Rambai tree parts were found to exhibit antidiabetic, antibacterial, and skincare properties. No anticancer and antifungal property of Rambai has been found yet. Many more studies are required to discover more biochemical and medicinal properties of Rambai.