Ananthan Padmashree

Studies on the antioxygenic activity of bitter gourd (Momordica charantia) and its fractions using various in vitro models

BACKGROUND A study was undertaken to evaluate the antioxygenic activity of bitter gourd pulp and seed powders as well as their various solvent extracts using different methods and to minimise the oxidative deterioration of lipids by natural antioxidants. RESULTS Bitter gourd pulp and seed powders at 20 g kg(-1) and their ethanol/water extracts exhibited stronger antioxygenic activity than other solvent extracts. Bitter gourd pulp and its extracts showed slightly higher antioxygenic activity than bitter gourd seed and its extracts. This may be attributed to the presence of higher amounts of phenolics and flavonoids, which have been reported as potential antioxidants. The seed portion of bitter gourd contained higher levels of total protein (188.3 g kg(-1) ), total fat (238.9 g kg(-1) ) and crude fibre (350.2 g kg(-1) ) than the pulp portion. Fatty acid analysis of bitter gourd seed oil indicated the presence of α-eleostearic acid, an isomer of conjugated linolenic acid, as a major fatty acid, but this acid was absent in the pulp. CONCLUSION The results of this study confirmed the presence of antioxygenic compounds in both bitter gourd pulp and seed. In particular, their ethanol/water extracts showed great potential as natural antioxidants to inhibit lipid peroxidation in foods.

Development and Quality Evaluation of Choco Quinoa Nutri Bar during Storage

Choco quinoa nutri bar was developed using quinoa as one of the ingredients to explore its nutritional benefits. Bars were packed in polypropylene (PP, 75 μ) and metallised polyester (12 μ) low density—high density (MP, 100 μ) (with/without vacuum) films, stored under ambient and 37°C temperature conditions for shelf life evaluation. Bar contained 14.43% protein, 14.93% fat with a calorific value of 426.75 k cal/100g. Chemical changes were observed significantly (p < 0.05) more in the samples stored at 37°C than the ones stored at ambient conditions (15°C - 34°C). Bars showed maximum stability at 0.33 aw with less chemical changes. Oleic acid (36.06%) was found to be the major fatty acids in the bar followed by palmitic (29.35%), stearic (17.12%) and linoleic (12.05%) acids. Hardness of the bar enhanced significantly during storage, and was observed significantly (p < 0.05) higher in the samples packed in MP films (with/without vacuum) as compared to bars packed in PP films thus restricting the shelf life of the bar to 6 months in MP films (with/without vacuum) and 9 months in PP films at both the temperature conditions.