A Review of Edible Jujube, the Ziziphus jujuba Fruit: A Heath Food Supplement for Anemia Prevalence

The fruits of Ziziphus jujuba, commonly known as jujube, red date or Chinese date, are taken as fresh or dried food, and as traditional medicine worldwide due to high nutritional and health values. Traditionally in China, jujube is considered as a medicinal fruit that is being used in treating blood deficiency. In this review, the beneficial effects of jujubes on the hematopoietic functions are summarized and discussed. As illustrated in cell and animal models, the application of jujube extract possessed beneficial effects, including regulation of erythropoiesis via activation of hypoxia inducible factor-induced erythropoietin, potential capacity in recycling heme iron during erythrophagocytosis and bi-directional regulation of immune response. Thus, the blood-nourishing function of jujube is being proposed here. Flavonoid, polysaccharide and triterpenoid within jujube could serve as the potential active ingredients accounting for the aforementioned health benefits. Taken together, these findings provide several lines of evidence for further development of jujube as supplementary products for prevention and/or treatment of anemia.

A Review of DietaryZiziphus jujubaFruit (Jujube): Developing Health Food Supplements for Brain Protection

The fruits ofZiziphus jujuba, known as jujube or Chinese date, are being consumed all around the world because of their health benefits, as both food and herbal medicine. Traditionally, one of the main functions of jujube, as described in herbal medicine, is to benefit our brain by calming down the mind and improving quality of sleep. Here, the activities of jujubes on nervous system are summarized and discussed. Jujube possesses neuroprotective activities, including protecting neuronal cells against neurotoxin stress, stimulating neuronal differentiation, increasing expression of neurotrophic factors, and promoting memory and learning. Flavonoid, cAMP, and jujuboside could be the potential bioactive ingredients to account for the aforesaid biological activities. These findings imply that jujube is a potential candidate for development of health supplements for prevention and/or treatment of neurological diseases.

Chinese Date Grading Based on Computer Vision

In order to implement the accuracy and robust classification of Chinese dates according to size and color based on computer vision techniques on line, the method of classification according to size and color for Chinese date was studied. Taking the black rollers as background, the Chinese date images were pre-segmented by double thresholds in RGB color space. Through morphological operation, contour trace and region fill, the whole Chinese date target was obtained. the maximum diameter value was used to be the character value for size classification. The difference of saturation and hue of pericarp area in HIS color space was the color grading criteria. The results indicated that the accuracy of diameter measurement is 1.92mm, Experiment results proved the methods is effective to classify Chinese date by size and shape.

Unique Fruit Development of Ornamental ‘Teapot’ Jujube

Jujube or chinese date (Ziziphus jujuba) has fruit that is developed mainly from ovary plus some nectary disk tissue, and the fruit can appear smooth or bumpy on the surface. The objective of this study was to investigate the unique fruit development of ornamental ‘Teapot’ jujube. Unlike ‘Li’ and ‘Lang’, ‘Teapot’ jujube fruit had one to five protuberances on the shoulder of the fruit and few entirely lack protuberances. The stamens of ‘Teapot’ jujube flowers were fewer in number, misplaced in location, and deformed in shape—some stamens were anthers only while others were filament only. Deformed stamens of ‘Teapot’ jujube were always anchored in the nectary disk instead of at their normal location—near the edge of the nectary disk. After bloom, the residue of stamens, nectary disk, and ovary were all constituents of the developing fruit. The deformed stamens developed into the fleshy protuberances and equaled them in number. Fruit with only two protuberances predominated, which is how the ‘Teapot’ jujube acquired its name, but the ratio among protuberance categories varied between trees. With its unique and decorative fruit shape, and acceptable fruit quality, ‘Teapot’ jujube could be used as a backyard tree, both as an ornamental and for its fruit.

Chinese Date Detecting and Grading Method with Computer Vision

In order to implement the accuracy and robust classification of Chinese dates by size, shape and defect with computer vision techniques on line, the method of classification by size, shape and defect at the same was studied. Three different profile image of a Chinese date were gained for size classification by computing the longest axis and the value was used to be the character value for size classification. Shape classification was accomplished by computing the eccentricity. Misshapen Chinese dates were detected by computing sampling normalized radius difference absolute values. The experiments results proved the methods is effective to classify Chinese date by size ,shape and defect at the same time.