Odutola Osilesi

Fruits and vegetables moderate lipid cardiovascular risk factor in hypertensive patients

Hyperlipidemia is a major risk factor in etiology of cardiovascular disease. Previous studies have shown association between vegetarian diet and low total serum cholesterol as well as LDL-cholesterol which is a pointer to low risk of cardiovascular disease. Dietary fiber, antioxidants and other classes of nutrients have been reported to ameliorate cardiovascular risk factors. Fruits and vegetables being rich sources of fiber and antioxidants have been the focus in intervention studies. The current work reports the effect local fruits and vegetables on cardiovascular risk factors in African hypertensive subjects in an 8 week study. Though there was no significant difference in the Body Mass Index and HDL-cholesterol at the end of the eighth week, there were significant reductions (P < 0.05) in serum triglycerides (125.87 ± 6.0 to108.27 ± 5.49 mgdL-1); total serum cholesterol (226.60 ± 6.15 to 179.20 ± 5.78) and LDL-cholesterol (135.69 ± 5.56 to 93.07 ± 7.18 mgdL-1). We concluded that consumption of combination of local fruits and vegetables may reduce the incidence of cardiovascular risk factors in Africans.

Utilization of high lysine-producing strains of Lactobacillus plantarum as starter culture for nutritional improvement of ogi.

A high lysine-producing mutant of Lactobacillus plantarum (OG 261-5) derived from a wild type strain (OG 261) previously isolated from fermenting ogi was evaluated for nutritional improvement of ogi in a modified fermentation process. Results indicate that ogi obtained by fermentation with the pure culture of the mutant compared to traditional ogi increased in concentration of available lysine from 228.5 ± 12.0 mg/100 g to 525.1 ± 25.8 mg/100 g, tryptophan from 58.6 ± 8.0 mg/100 g to 114.3 ± 11.0 mg/100 g and tyrosine from 408.5 ± 13.7 mg/100 g to 4636.5 ± 11.3 mg/100 g. However, the contents of valine, leucine, isoleucine and phenylalanine were substantially reduced which may affect the protein quality of the modified ogi. The modified process shortened the period of traditional ogi production from five days to one by reducing the two-stage fermentation (i.e. soaking and souring stages) to a one-stage process and the total protein recovery was better compared to traditional ogi processing. There was no significant difference (P > 0.05) in organoleptic quality attributes of colour, flavour, and overall acceptability of ogi produced by the modified process and the traditional ogi.

Proximate composition, mineral content and in vitro antioxidant activity of leaf and stem of Costus afer (Ginger lily) -

Aim: This study was designed to determine the proximate composition and mineral content of Costus afer leaf and stem, as well as to identify the most active antioxidant fraction. Materials and Methods: The proximate composition and mineral analysis of C. afer leaf and stem were performed using the standard methods described by Pearson and Association of Official Analytical Chemist while the 1,1 diphenyl 2 picryl hydrazyl (DPPH), thiobarbituric acid reactive species (TBARS), lipid peroxidation (LPO), and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) assays were used to determine the in vitro antioxidant activity of aqueous, n-butanol, ethyl acetate and hexane fractions of C. afer leaf and stem. Results: Proximate analysis revealed that the carbohydrate content was highest in the leaf (55.83 ± 3.71%) and stem (50.38 ± 1.27%) while crude fat content was lowest in the leaf (1.83 ± 0.43%) and stem (1.75 ± 0.48%). The minerals detected in appreciable quantity in both the leaf and stem samples were calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, chromium, lead, manganese, nickel, and copper. Further study showed that the aqueous leaf fraction exhibited a significantly (P < 0.05) high DPPH scavenging activity (IC50 = 259.07 µg/ml) and TAC (7.95 ± 0.37 mg ascorbic acid equivalent/g) compared with the other test fractions while the aqueous stem fraction had the highest TBARS scavenging activity (IC50 = 0.37 µg/ml) and inhibition of LPO (IC50 = 41.15 µg/ml) compared with the other test fractions. Conclusion: The findings from this study indicate that C. afer could serve as a source of nutrient and minerals for animal nutrition and human metabolism. It also showed that the aqueous fractions of C. afer leaf and stem possess high antioxidant activity than the other fractions. In addition, this study may also explain the folkloric use of crude C. afer leaf or stem extracts in the treatment of oxidative stress associated diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis and hepatic disorder.