Background

is from the family Polygonaceae and is commonly referred to as Kesum or laksa leaf in Malaysia. It is used as a fla-vouring ingredient in culinary dishes and also consumed as an ulam (salad) for preventive healthcare [1,2]. Tra-ditionally, the decoction of leaves is taken for indigestion, after childbirth, to warm the body up and to promote good eyesight [3]. It is possible that P. minus has the abil-ity to increase blood circulation [4]. Several studies have shown that leaves of P. minus are high in antioxidants [5-9]. It has been reported that water extracts of P. minus have shown superior antioxidant activity when compared to other popular herbs such as ulam raja, selom, pegaga and curry leaves, where antio-xidant activity was similar to the synthetic antioxidant butylhydroxytoluene (BHT) [6]. Water extracts of P. minus had higher antioxidant activity, measured by the total phenolic content (TPC), when comparing to ginge