Antioxidant and physicochemical properties of Chrysophyllum albidum fruit at different ripening stages

Chrysophyllum albidum (African Star Apple) fruit is an indigenous African fruit. The African Star Apple plant popularly referred to as the “alasa” tree grows widely in tropical Africa. Ripening influences biochemical processes and subsequently affects the nutritional and bioactive characteristics of the fruits. This study sampled Chrysophyllum albidum fruit of three maturity stages and determined the colour, proximate, total phenol and antioxidant characteristics of the fruits. Spectrophotometric methods were used in the determination of total antioxidant activity using 1,1-diphenyl- 2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity, 2,2-azinobis,3- ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) and Ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP) assay. Significant differences (p<0.05) were observed in the colour of the fruit across all the ripening stages. The ripe stage of the fruit recorded the highest extent of lightness among all the other ripening stages. Both the ripe and over-ripe fruits appeared reddish in colour with the ripe fruit demonstrating a higher red intensity than the over-ripe fruit. The calculated metric chroma of the Chrysophyllum albidum fruits were in the range of 2.33-21.67 for the three ripening stages. Hue angle values recorded were in the range 46.46-92.00. Browning and colour indices for fruits of all the stages of development were of range 6.40-80.30 and -14.30-16.96, respectively. Proximate analysis of the three fruit categories showed that the unripe fruits had higher carbohydrate (69.27 %), crude protein (8.17 %), and crude fat (7.99 %) content relative to fruits which were ripe and over-ripe. The over-ripe fruit had higher crude fibre (7.36 %) and ash (3.86 %) content. Total phenolic content for the unripe fruit (20μg GAE/mg) was also higher than fruits of the other ripening stages. The antioxidant ability of the Chrysophyllum albidum fruit showed that the unripe stage recorded the highest DPPH (29.24 %) and ABTS (99.09 %) radical scavenging activity. The ferric reducing antioxidant potential of the fruit at different ripening stages was significantly different (p<0.05) with the unripe stage recording the highest potential. The unripe fruits demonstrated higher proximate and antioxidant composition than the ripe and over-ripe fruits. Extracts from the unripe fruit can serve as useful nutraceuticals in functional food formulations

Household food security determinants and nutritional status of inhabitants of a peri-urban community: a case study in the Volta region of Ghana

Food shortages and malnutrition widely persist and continue to be rural peculiarities across the sub-region. A cross-sectional study was conducted in a peri-urban community of Dzodze in the Volta region to ascertain the level of food security as well as the nutritional status of the inhabitants using a random sampling technique. This community-based comparative cross-sectional study conducted from May to July 2018 adopted a multistage random sampling and selected 105 households. Sociodemographic data were collected using a structured questionnaire. Chi-square, Cramer’s-V, and Pearson’s correlations models were used to assess the association of socio-demographic, anthropometric and food frequency data while the Logit model, FSI, HCR were used to measure food security. Over half of the sample (59.6%) were in the normal range of BMI which implied good nutritional status. Remarkably, a majority of those in this normal BMI range 81 (77%) were female. Women aged 41years and above constituted a large portion of study participants (54.3%) of which many 43 (41%) were married. Just 4.8% of this group said they were both separated and cohabited with their partners non-customarily. Data on the frequency of food intake by the community revealed that, a majority of 63.4% of the respondents ate three times a day. Most of the people (77.2%, 68.7%, and 86.9%) ate breakfast, lunch, and supper, respectively, daily over a week. The fallouts from the work showed majority (71.5%) of the respondents were food secure and the remaining (about 28.5%) were food insecure. Factors such as age, gender, educational level, household size, and age were found to be significant predictors that influenced food security of the peri-urban community according to the logit model used. The smallholder households according to the computed food security index of 1.13 and normal range of BMI were identified to be indices of food security.&nbsp

Profile of fungal contaminants of maize (Zea mays) intended for consumption and their potential health implications in the Ho municipality of Ghana

Maize is a principal food crop used extensively by both humans and animals in Africa and across the globe. Unfortunately, maize is highly susceptible to fungal contamination, especially with toxicogenic species. The contamination is exacerbated subsequently by mycotoxins of these fungi, which is indeed a major concern to governments and the international community, as it renders the food unsafe for human and animal consumption. Whole maize was sampled from 10 different sites in the Ho municipality, Ghana, and evaluated for moisture contents, fungal count, and species diversity. The fungal analysis was conducted at three points per location. Fungal species were cultured and identified on the two media used; Sabouraud Dextrose Agar (SDA) and Dichlor Rose Bengal Chloramphenicol (DRBC). A total of sixteen (16) fungal species belonging to eleven (11) genera were identified in this study. They included Aspergillus niger, A. flavus, A. fumigatus, A. tamarii, A. ochraceous, and A. parasiticus, Cladosporium herbarium, Curvularia lunata, Penicillium citrinum, Fusarium moniliforme, Eurotium sp., Mucor racemosus, Rhizopus stolonifer, Paecilomyces variotii, Neurospora sitophilia and Rhodotorula sp. The genus Fusarium was found to be the most overriding fungus. The overall decreasing order of ranking of occurrence was Fusarium>Penicillium>Aspergillus. Fungal counts of the maize samples ranged between 2.77±1.01- 4.1±0.81 Log10 CFU/g and 3.00±1.13-4.08±1.22 Log10 CFU/g for SDA and DRBC respectively and showed no significant differences (p>0.05). The moisture content of the maize grains ranged between 12.06 ±1.17- 16.71 ± 2.65 %. Generally, there was a weak association between moisture content and fungal counts, which showed a poor fit to the linear equations (R2= 0.1989, R2= 0.0047 for SDA and DRBC respectively). Our results underscore that consumers and farmers should be up-to-date on the danger of fungal contamination in maize. The outcomes of this paper would be worthwhile in advising policy makers to particularly stress on in adopting international legislations on food quality parameters and to use tools that will change the frame of mind of the population on risks involving fungal intoxication

Household food security determinants and nutritional status of inhabitants of a peri-urban community: A case study in the Volta region of Ghana

Food shortages and malnutrition widely persist and continue to be rural peculiarities across the sub-region. A cross-sectional study was conducted in a peri-urban community of Dzodze in the Volta region to ascertain the level of food security as well as the nutritional status of the inhabitants using a random sampling technique. This community-based comparative cross-sectional study conducted from May to July 2018 adopted a multistage random sampling and selected 105 households. Socio-demographic data were collected using a structured questionnaire. Chi-square, Cramer’s-V, and Pearson’s correlations models were used to assess the association of socio-demographic, anthropometric and food frequency data while the Logit model, FSI, HCR were used to measure food security. Over half of the sample (59.6%) were in the normal range of BMI which implied good nutritional status. Remarkably, a majority of those in this normal BMI range 81 (77%) were female. Women aged 41years and above constituted a large portion of study participants (54.3%) of which many 43 (41%) were married. Just 4.8% of this group said they were both separated and cohabited with their partners non-customarily. Data on the frequency of food intake by the community revealed that, a majority of 63.4% of the respondents ate three times a day. Most of the people (77.2%, 68.7%, and 86.9%) ate breakfast, lunch, and supper, respectively, daily over a week. The fallouts from the work showed majority (71.5%) of the respondents were food secure and the remaining (about 28.5%) were food insecure. Factors such as age, gender, educational level, household size, and age were found to be significant predictors that influenced food security of the peri-urban community according to the logit model used. The smallholder households according to the computed food security index of 1.13 and normal range of BMI were identified to be indices of food security