The preservative efficacies of bemul-wax coatings in combination with calcium chloride dip on low temperature stored Citrus O. Sinensis

The capacity of developing countries for citrus fruits exportation is limited by the lack of adequate storage techniques. In studying this problem citrus sinensis Osbeck was treated with, a locally developed bemul-wax, calcium chloride dip, and a combination of the two. The treated fruits were assessed during four month low temperature storage (7.0 ± 3.0oC; 90-94% RH.) for their biochemical and sensory qualities. Fruits treated with bemul-wax and the combination manifested significantly reduced (p<0.05) physiological weight, delayed ripening, and texture values. All the treated oranges showed significantly reduced titratable acidity. Combined treatment significantly reduced (p<0.05) ascorbic acid level, while the combined and calcium chloride dip treatments reduced, and increased significantly (p<0.05) the density of the juice respectively. All treatments showed significantly increased (p<0.05) pH and �-amylase activities but no effects on total sugar levels, pectin esterase activities, taste and flavor of the juice. In conclusion, the combined and bemul-wax treatments preserved the nutritional, biochemical, and sensory qualities of the stored oranges for the four month storage period considered adequate to cover the orange off-season period in Nigeria as well as sufficient to export orange from Nigeria to other parts of the world

Moisture migration and bulk nutrients interaction in a drying food systems: A review

Drying is a technique that involves removal of moisture using heat energy. This heat affects the protein components in foods especially the thiosulphide groups, which causes hydrophobic bond break that has been attributed greatly to denaturation during drying. Safe moisture content (SMC)is the extent to which moisture can be withdrawn from food crops during drying that such crops can be considered safe for storage with minimal loss of nutritional qualities. Several reported minimum moisture contents, and bulk nutrients’ levels of crops were collected for the purpose of this review, and scattered plot graph was employed to determine the levels of bond interaction between moisture content and each bulk nutrients in the various dried food categories. The moisture contents in grains, root and tuber crops, fruits and vegetables, and cash crops formed a SMC threshold boundary within the 6% - 14%; 0% - 10%; 0% - 22%; and 0% - 30% respectively. Crude fibre and most especially the ash content played the most crucial role by providing the strongest bond interaction with migrating moisture during drying of all the food crops’ categories, and are of utmost important in the determination of SMC

Body mass index and blood pressure in a semi-urban community in Ota, Nigeria

This study was designed to establish the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure (BP) in an increasingly industrialised town in Nigeria due to the rising prevalence of hypertension in non-industrialised countries. Factors associated with BMI and BP levels were determined in three hundred adult male and female subjects in Ota community of Ogun State, Nigeria. The levels of the overweight among the male and female subjects were 53.03 % and 47.37 % respectively. The levels of hypertensive male and female subjects were 40.91 % and 35.34 % respectively. The overweight and underweight among the hypertensive male were 54.29 % and 0 % respectively; while the overweight and underweight among the hypertensive female were 42.86 % and 28.57 % respectively. Hypertension among the overweight, and hypotension among the underweight, are major health concern in Ota that requires intensive medical care

The effectiveness of a combination of edible coating (bemul-wax) and calcium chloride dip to improve the quality of Ipomea batatas stored at low temperatures

Sweet potato (Ipomea batatas L.) is a highly perishable crop with limited storage techniques. Some endogenous spoilage enzymes and antioxidant biomolecules in the treated tubers were employed to assess the effectiveness of treating the tuber with calcium chloride dip, bemul-wax and combinations of the two at 2 weeks interval for improving its qualities during 10 weeks low-temperature (10°-15 °C and 91-96 %RH.) storage. A significant weight reduction (P<0.05) in the tubers treated with bemul-wax and the combined treatments was manifested in 10 weeks. The tubers also exhibited a reduced tendency to sprout, as evidenced by the significant reduction (P<0.05) in α-amylase activities for 4 weeks. A significant reduction (P<0.05) also occurred in the polyphenol oxidase activities of the tubers treated with bemul-wax, combination treatment and calcium chloride dip over 4, 4 and 10 weeks of storage, respectively. The ascorbic acid levels, phenylalanine ammonia lyase, alcohol dehydrogenase and pectin esterase activities were relatively stable in all treated tubers. The combination of the two treatments, which could provide a non-genetic approach to eliminate or reduce sprout development, seems to be the most effective treatment for preventing spoilage under these storage conditions

Food from Sorghum bicolor L. Moench as sources of health beneficial bioactive compounds

Aqueous extract of Sorghum bicolor L. Moench (Omi ogi) have been implicated in the cure for malaria, celiac disease, hepatitis and sickle cell anemia, which may be due to the constituents’ bioactive compounds. The aqueous extract was screened for the presence of twenty bioactive compounds using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Nine of which were detected and quantified to be quercetin (5.683 + 1.467mg/g dry wt.), caffeic acid (20.020 + 0.044 mg/g dry wt.), p-coumaric acid (0.274 + 0.050 mg/g dry wt.), resveratrol (0.347 + 0.105 mg/g dry wt.), hesperidin (16.766 + 0.470 mg/g dry wt.), rosmarinic acid (4.081 + 0.160 mg/g dry wt.), rutin hydrate (0.133 + 0.031 mg/g dry wt.), cinnamic acid (0.005 + 0.000 mg/g dry wt.) and chlorogenic acid (1.748 + 0.033 mg/g dry wt.). The presence of these bioactive compounds may be responsible for the excellent health benefits associated with the local consumption of processed product of the plant and the therapeutic applications of the extract

Chemical qualities of oils from some fresh and market vegetable crops within Kwara State of Nigeria

The potential of Nigeria leading Africa and the world in the area of biofuel and oleochemical production was examined by evaluating the oil yield and chemical qualities of oil extracted from fresh and market sample of some naturally abundant vegetables (Mangifera indica, Prunus dulcis Miller, Ricinnus communis, and Elaeis guineensis) in Nigeria. Moisture, ash, and crude fat composition, including the free fatty acid, acid and saponification values of the oils were determined, high mineral composition of almond was observed compared to other vegetables. Moisture content of 5.006, 3.500, 4.870, 37.002, 9.147, and 63.650%; crude fat of 59.195, 67.807, 33.490, 32.303, and 12.511, and 0.939%; and ash levels of 4.605, 2.833, 1.903, 1.728, and 1.305% were reported for seeds obtained from almond, castor, palm kernel, groundnut, mango and kola nuts respectively. Polymerization and esterification of fatty acids induced by the hot ambient storage conditions used by our marketer was attributed to the higher molecular weight of fatty acids in market sample for groundnut and palm oil over the corresponding fresh sample. High level of ash content (4.605%) for almond seed was observed, making a good source of mineral nutrition to consumers. Due to their high oil yield and abundance, oils from almond seed and castor seed, in addition to palm oil and groundnut oil may be considered as Nigeria potential asset for biofuel and oleochemical production

Biochemical response of sweet potato to bemul-wax coating combined with calcium chloride treatment during ambient storage

Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas Linn) tuber is a very nutritious but highly perishable crop that is subject to high wastages due to non-availability of appropriate storage techniques. This work assessed the effectiveness of treating the tubers with calcium chloride dip (CCD), bemul-wax (B-wax) and their combinations (CCD/B-wax) at ambient storage conditions (24.9 ± 4.0°C and 44.6 ± 18.4% RH). Some biochemical parameters of each treated sample were assessed and compared with the control for 20 days storage period. There were significant reductions (P < 0.05) in weight loss by B-wax and CCD/Bwax. CCD and CCD/B-wax caused significant reductions in pH, total amino acid and pectin esterase. Also, all the treatments caused significant reductions in ascorbic acid, phenylalanine ammonia lyase,�A-Amylase and alcohol dehydrogenase activities. There were significant reductions in polyphenol oxidase activity by B-wax. In conclusion, while all the treatments proved to be effective to varying degrees,CCD/B-wax seemed to be the most effective in preventing spoilage in the tuber

Phytochemical analysis of Ipomoea involucrata

We have recently reported that methanolic extracts from Ipomoea involucrata P. Beauv. (Convolvulaceae) exhibited particular antisickling properties coupled with the potential to reverse sickled blood and reduce stress in sickle cell patients1. In light of its possible medicinal benefits the MeOH plant extract was analysed for twenty bioactives by high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) equipped with UV-detector. Chlorogenic acid (33.72±0.24 mg/g. dry wt. leaves), ferulic acid (15.60±3.46 mg/g. dry wt. leaves), hesperidin (6.71±1.57 mg/g. dry wt. leaves), lutein (2.55±0.09 mg/g. dry wt. leaves), resveratrol (2.54±0.28 mg/g. dry wt. leaves), coumaric acid (1.75±0.17 mg/g. dry wt. leaves), myricetin (1.70±0.00 mg/g. dry wt. leaves), kaempferol (0.93±0.71 mg/g. dry wt. leaves) and rutin (0.80±0.43 mg/g. dry wt. leaves) were the nine bioactives detected. The high levels of the major compounds (chlorogenic acid, ferulic acid and hesperidin) were similar to that of leaves of other Ipomoea sp.2-4 Hesperidin was first reported in this study among the Ipomoea sp. The leaves has relatively higher levels of coumaric acid than I. mauritiana; ferulic acid, resveratrol and lutein than I. batatas; and similar levels of myricetin to that in I. batatas.2,5-6 Ferulic acid in I. hederacea, myricetin in I. aquatica, rutin in I. batatas; and coumarin in I. cairica, Ipomoea digitata L., Ipomoea hederacea, I. pes-caprae , I. pes-tigridis, I. sepiaria and I. batatas were also detected but not quantified.3 The identified compounds could significantly contribute to the medicinal properties of the plant.3 A future investigation will carry out to evaluate the antisickling properties coupled with the potential to reduce stress in sickle cell patients of the isolated constituents