Although the combination of chromatography and colour reactions are known to be useful methods of flavonoid detection (Lewis, 1989) spectrophotometric analysis of the aqueous plantain banana extract further confirmed the chromatographic data.
Analysis of an acid-treated extract derived from unripe plantain banana powder by HPLC also confirmed the presence of leucocyanidin. This flavonoid was present in smaller amounts in similar samples of ripe dessert banana. This observation is consistent with leucocyanidin acting as the active anti-ulcerogenic ingredient of unripe plantain banana since dessert banana is known not to protect the gastric mucosa from aspirin-induced injury (Best et al