ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the physical, chemical, and physiological properties of the saponins occurring in food and forage plants. It is important to note that other surfactants also have hemolytic activity and that not all saponins, for example, some of those from soybeans, are necessarily hemolytically active. Most of these can be used quantitatively, but thin-layer chromatography still appears to be the most rapid and reliable method for quantitative detection. Other simple methods exploit the characteristic physical properties of saponins, such as their foaming power or their hemolytic activity. Gangrade and Kaushal have separated five saponins, fenugrins A to E, by a combination of column and thin-layer chromatography. C A physical property of saponins which appears to have particularly significant physiological consequences for animals which ingest them is their ability to form large mixed micelles with bile acids.
