scholarly journals Nutritional Characteristics of Four Underutilized Edible Wild Fruits of Dietary Interest in Ghana

Foods ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Achaglinkame ◽  
Ruth Aderibigbe ◽  
Oliver Hensel ◽  
Barbara Sturm ◽  
Joseph Korese

Malnutrition has been a serious issue in Ghana and Africa as a whole. However, the potential of many indigenous fruits to combat it has not yet been tested. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the nutritional characteristics of four underutilized wild fruits (Gardenia erubescens, Sclerocarya birrea, Diospyros mespiliformis, and Balanites aegyptiaca) of dietary interest in Ghana. The nutritional and antinutritional characteristics of the fruits were analyzed according to standard methods (laid down by the Association of Official Analytical Chemists and other well-known researchers) on a dry weight (dw) basis. The nutritional value of the fruits was high enough to contribute to the nutrient requirements of humans, with their iron (0.34–1.46 mg/100 g), zinc (0.81–2.97 mg/100 g), vitamin A (0.84–2.03 mg/100 g), and β-carotene (64.84–176.89 mg/100 g) contents worth special mention. The antinutrient content also ranged between 0.06–1.82 mg/g. Therefore, it is evident from the study that the fruits, although containing some levels of antinutrients, are nutrient-dense, suggesting their potency in fighting malnutrition in humans.

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chokri Zaghdoud ◽  
Carlos Alcaraz-López ◽  
César Mota-Cadenas ◽  
María del Carmen Martínez-Ballesta ◽  
Diego A. Moreno ◽  
...  

The comparative responses of two broccoli cultivars (Brassica oleraceavar. Italica, cv. Parthenon and cv. Naxos) to a 15 d exposure to different NaCl levels were investigated. Salinity led to increased concentrations of Na+and Cl−ions in both cultivars, a disruption of the endogenous minerals levels in the shoots and roots—that varied with the cultivar and salt concentration—and decreases in the osmotic potential (Ψπ), root hydraulic conductance (L0), and stomatal conductance (Gs). The reduced biomass of Naxos at moderate NaCl indicates greater sensitivity to salinity, compared with Parthenon. Parthenon accumulated more soluble sugars, for osmotic adjustment, whereas Naxos accumulated proline, which gave the two cultivars differing nutritional characteristics. The total glucosinolates (GSLs) content was not affected by salinity in Parthenon while it decreased significantly in Naxos as a consequence of the decrease in the indole GSL. However, Naxos accumulated more aliphatic GSLs under salt stress than Parthenon, which confers on this cultivar a greater nutritional value when cultivated under salinity.These results suggest that, at distinct salinity levels, each broccoli cultivar adopts a specific strategy, indicating the crucial role of the genetic background on the organoleptic and nutritional properties that each cultivar acquires.


2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 881-892 ◽  
Author(s):  
Penny Hiwilepo-van Hal ◽  
Peter George Bille ◽  
Ruud Verkerk ◽  
Martinus A. J. S. van Boekel ◽  
Matthijs Dekker

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 180
Author(s):  
Edy Kustiani ◽  
Mariyono Mariyono ◽  
Bela Citra Ayuningtyas

Red spinach (Amaranthus gangeticus) is one of the most popular vegetables because of its high nutritional value and easy cultivation. Efforts to increase the production of red spinach are to fertilize to meet the needs of both macro and micronutrients. This study aimed to determine the effect of ZA fertilizer dose on the growth and yield of red spinach. The environmental design used was a non-factorial, completely randomized design with four replications. The factors tested were the dose of ZA fertilizer which consisted of 6 levels, namely: without ZA fertilizer (D0); 0.4 gr/polybag (D1); 0.8 gr/polybag (D2); 1.2 gr/polybag (D3); 1.6 gr/polybag (D4); 2 gr/polybag (D5). The data obtained were analyzed using analysis of variance, and if the results were significantly different, the BNT test was continued at a 5% level. The growth and yield of red spinach showed significant differences due to the ZA fertilizer dose treatment. The ZA fertilizer dose treatment of 1.2 g/polybag (D3) resulted in the highest plant height, the number of leaves, and leaf area of red spinach at 14, 21, and 28 days after planting. The ZA fertilizer dose treatment of 1.2 g/polybag (D3) resulted in the highest wet and dry weight plants of 49.15 and 4.38 grams, respectively. The ZA 1.2 gr/polybag dose is the ideal dose to increase the productivity of red spinach.Bayam merah (Amaranthus gangeticus) termasuk sayuran penting yang disukai masyarakat karena bernilai gizi tinggi dan mudah pembudidayaannya. Upaya peningkatan hasil bayam merah salah satunya dengan pemupukan untuk menambah nutrisi yang dibutuhkan tanaman. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah mempelajari respon pertumbuhan dan hasil tanaman bayam merah pada perlakuan dosis pupuk ZA. Pelaksanaan penelitian ini menggunakan Rancangan Acak Lengkap (RAL) satu faktor. Faktor yang diujikan adalah dosis pupuk ZA, terdiri 6 taraf, yaitu: tanpa pupuk ZA (D0); 0.4 gr/polybag (D1); 0.8 gr/polybag (D2); 1.2 gr/polybag (D3); 1.6 gr/polybag (D4); 2 gr /polybag (D5). Percobaan dilakukan dengan ulangan sebanyak 4 kali. Analisis data menggunakan analysis of variance (ANOVA), apabila berbeda nyata dilanjutkan uji Beda Nyata Terkecil (BNT) taraf 5%. Perlakuan dosis pupuk ZA berpengaruh nyata terhadap pertumbuhan dan hasil tanaman bayam merah. Perlakuan dosis pupuk ZA 1.2 gr/polybag (D3) menghasilkan tinggi, jumlah dan luas daun tanaman bayam merah tertinggi pada pengamatan umur 14, 21, dan 28 HST. Dosis pupuk ZA 1.2 gr/polybag (D3) juga menunjukkan berat basah dan berat kering tanaman tertinggi sebesar 49.15 dan 4.38 gram. Dosis ZA 1.2 gr/polybag merupakan dosis ideal untuk meningkatkan produktivitas tanaman bayam merah.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
L.P.T. Quoc

AbstractThe main purpose of this study was to determine the chemical composition of monofloral bee-collected pollen from the coffee (Coffea robusta) plant and its pellet morphology. According to the results coffee bee pollen (CBP) has a high nutritional value. It contains a large percentage of protein, reducing sugar, and lipid. Also, vitamins (B2 and E) and minerals (K, Ca, and P) were found in CBP. In addition, the results revealed that the total polyphenols content (TPC) was 10.62 mg GAE/g dry weight (DW) and antioxidant activity (AA) of CBP was 5.52 μmol TE/g DW. Some physical properties of CBP pellet were recorded such as moisture, relative diameter, sphericity, bulk density, and colour parameters. The pollen pellet exhibits shapes of colour from light to dark yellow. These results pointed out that CBP can be used as a remarkable source of compounds with antioxidant activity and health-protective capacity for humans.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Qiannan Yu ◽  
Meijuan Guo ◽  
Bin Zhang ◽  
Hao Wu ◽  
Yan Zhang ◽  
...  

To explore the differences in the main nutritional composition of 23 kinds of common edible fungi in the market, the moisture, ash, protein, fat, dietary fiber, carbohydrates, polysaccharides, and energy were analyzed using national standard methods. The results showed that the 23 kinds of edible fungi varied greatly in nutritional composition. Based on dry weight, the moisture content was 6.9∼15.5 g/100 g, the ash content ranged from 1.3 to 10.1 g/100 g, the protein content ranged from 8.5 to 36.9 g/100 g, the fat content was 0.5∼3.9 g/100 g, the dietary fiber content was between 14.4∼70.2 g/100 g, the carbohydrate content is 0.5∼37.3 g/100 g, the polysaccharide content was 2.1∼8.3 g/100 g, and the energy is about 751∼1322 100 g/kJ. All the 23 kinds of edible fungi can be regarded as high-protein low-fat foods, which have their own advantages in terms of nutritional value. This study provides reference for people to use edible fungi in a more scientific and reasonable way.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-38
Author(s):  
Hossam S. EL-BELTAGI ◽  
Abeer A. AMER ◽  
Rehab F. M. ALI ◽  
Somia M. MOUSA ◽  
Emam ABDEL-RAHIM

Biscuit is one of the most popular processed ready to eat snacks that have possesses several attractive features including wide consumer base, relatively less expensive, more convenient with long shelf-life and have ability to serve as vehicles for important nutrients. It’s usually available in different sizes, tastes and shapes.  It can also be enriched or fortified with other ingredients in order to meet specific nutritional or therapeutic needs of consumers. In recent years, numerous studies have shown the potential of utilizing natural plant such as green leafy vegetable in cookies and biscuit production; the potential of amaranthus leaves used as a source of iron and β-carotene inpakora, vada, namakpal, kurmure, biscuit and cake. The present research was carried out to throw the light on the effect of wheat flour and barley flour with natural and synthetic colors to improve chemical composition, the nutritional value and quality characteristics of producing biscuits. The results indicate that that treatment 100% barley flour 72% with turmeric and cocoa as a natural colors recorded a significant increase in the content of protein, ash, minerals such as iron, zinc, potassium, magnesium and some physical analysis like weight, volume, density as well as sensory evaluation. As compared with wheat flour 72% and synthetic color tartrazine ADI 7.5 mg/kg.bw and chocolate brown ADI 0.15 mg/kg.bw. In conclusion, results showed that barley flour improved nutritional quality, physical characteristics and sensory characteristics of produce biscuit with mixture natural and natural color.


Metabolites ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weibo Ma ◽  
Jae Kwang Kim ◽  
Caihua Jia ◽  
Feifan Yin ◽  
Hyo Jin Kim ◽  
...  

Tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum (L.) Gaertn.) is a nutritional crop, which has high flavonoid content. However, buckwheat is a salt sensitive glycophyte cereal crop and the growth and grain yield of buckwheat are significantly affected by soil salinity. In this study, we performed a comprehensive analysis of the transcriptome and metabolome of salt treated-buckwheat to understand the effects of salinity on buckwheat. A total of 50,681,938 clean reads were acquired from all samples. We acquired 94,950 unigenes with a mean length of 1133 bp and N50 length of 1900 bp assembly. Of these, 63,305 unigenes (66.7%) were matched in public databases. Comparison of the transcriptome expression patterns between control and salt treated groups showed that 4098 unigenes were up-regulated and 3292 unigenes were down-regulated significantly. Further, we found that genes involved with amino acid, lipid and nucleotide metabolism were most responsive to salt stress. Additionally, many genes involved in secondary metabolite biosynthesis changed significantly following treatment. Those affected included phenylpropanoid biosynthesis and flavonoid biosynthesis. Chromatographic analysis was used to examine the differences in concentration of flavonoids, carotenoids, amino acids and organic acids in the samples following treatment. There was a significant increase in rutin (12.115 mg/g dry weight), following salt stress; whereas, six carotenoids (lutein, zeaxanthin, 13Z-β-carotene, α-carotene, E-β-carotene and 9Z-β-carotene) did not significantly respond to salt stress. Ultimately, our data acts as a valuable resource for future research on buckwheat and can be used as the basis for future analysis focused on gene-to-metabolite networks in buckwheat.


Antioxidants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 484
Author(s):  
Elena Rodríguez-Rodríguez ◽  
Beatriz Beltrán-de-Miguel ◽  
Kerly X. Samaniego-Aguilar ◽  
Milagros Sánchez-Prieto ◽  
Rocío Estévez-Santiago ◽  
...  

Carotenoids are bioactive compounds with widely accepted health benefits. Their quantification in human faeces can be a useful non-invasive approach to assess their bioavailability. Identification and quantification of major dietary carotenoids in human faeces was the aim of the present study. Faeces and dietary intake were obtained from 101 healthy adults (45–65 years). Carotenoid concentrations were determined by HPLC in faeces and by 3-day food records in dietary intake. Carotenoids quantified in faeces (μg/g dry weight, median) were: β-carotene (39.5), lycopene (20), lutein (17.5), phytoene (11.4), zeaxanthin (6.3), β-cryptoxanthin (4.5), phytofluene (2.9). α-carotene (5.3) and violaxanthin were found 75.5% and 7.1% of the faeces. The carotenoids found in the highest concentrations corresponded to the ones consumed in the greatest amounts (μg/d): lycopene (13,146), phytoene (2697), β-carotene (1812), lutein+zeaxanthin (1148). Carotenoid concentration in faeces and in dietary intake showed correlation for the total non-provitamin A carotenoids (r = 0.302; p = 0.003), phytoene (r = 0.339; p = 0.001), phytofluene (r = 0.279; p = 0.005), lycopene (0.223; p = 0.027), lutein+zeaxanthin (r = 0.291; p = 0.04) and β-cryptoxanthin (r = 0.323; p = 0.001). A high proportion of dietary carotenoids, especially those with provitamin A activity and some of their isomers, reach the large intestine, suggesting a low bioavailability of their intact forms.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (19) ◽  
pp. 6998
Author(s):  
Cintya G. Soria-Hernández ◽  
Sergio O. Serna-Saldívar ◽  
Cristina Chuck-Hernández

Vegetable proteins are potential low-cost alternatives to solve the protein deficiency of the world population. A protein extracted from a mixture of soybean meal and maize germ was developed to offer more protein alternatives with high nutritional value. In this study, physicochemical, functional, and nutritional characteristics of isolates and hydrolysates of soybean and counterparts extracted from a soybean meal-maize germ were compared. The isolate and hydrolysate of the soybean-maize blend had a protein content of 93.9% and 73.6%, respectively. These protein mixtures contained 10% and 52% more solubility, 303.9%, and 22.7% more emulsifying capacity, 4.5% and 4.2% higher foam density and 36.3% and 1.2% more coagulation capacity compared to the soybean isolate and hydrolysate. Electrophoretic profiles of soybean-maize proteins showed four additional bands to the typical soybean pattern of 56, 55, 52 and 18 kDa, which could correspond to globulins and zeins from maize. The isolate extracted from the mixture of soybean meal and maize is a new alternative to provide the necessary amino acids for proper physical and mental development. Additionally, it has a high potential to be used as an ingredient by the food industry due to its excellent functionality and nutritional value.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document