Caper (Capparis decidua) or Kurel and Pinju in Hindi, is well known to many in both the UK and India. Capers are commonly found as an ingredient in fish pies, and savoury dishes. It grows widely in dry desert regions.

The antioxidant activity (Yadav et al., 1997a & b) and hypolipidemic activity (Agarwal and Chauhan, 1988) have been reviewed.

Diabetes

A few studies have looked at its ability to ameliorate diabetes. In a rat model, rats were kept on a diet of 30%w/w Capparis decidua fruit powder for 3 weeks to alloxanized (80 mg/kg IP) diabetic rats. These rats had a blood glucose level of 450 mg but this was reduced to hypoglycaemic levels where the blood glucose level was 120 to/130 mg (Yadav et al., 1997b).

References

Agarwal, V., Chauhan, B.M. (1988)  A study on composition and hypolipidemic effect of dietary fibre from some plant foods. Plant Foods and Human Nutr. 38 (2), pp. 189 -197.

Yadav, P., Sarkar, S., Bhatnagar, D. (1997a). Action of Capparis decidua against alloxan-induced oxidative stress and diabetes in rat tissues. Pharmacological Res. 36 (3), pp. 221 – 228.

Yadav,P., Sarkar,S., Bhatnagar, D. (1997b). Lipid peroxidation and antioxidant enzymes in erythrocytes and tissues in aged diabetic rats. Indian J. Experimental Biology 35 (4), pp. 389-392.