Total Phenolics and Antioxidant Capacity of Some Nigerian Beverages

The aqueous extract of Nigerian beverages namely: fortified cocoa powder (Samples; FCA , FCB ,FCC ,FCD) Pure cocoa powder (PCA, PCB), coffee (C), ginger (G) and Tea samples (Green, TA, TB) were assayed for total phenols, flavonoids, Vitamin C and radical scavenging abilities using four different in vitro antioxidant assay methods. Coffee contains the highest amount of total phenols (135.71±0.92mg/g) and Vitamin C. (62.90± 2.97mg/g). The highest amounts of flavonoids were found in all the tea samples (10.0± 0.00mg/g). Green tea and coffee had the highest 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical [DPPH] radical scavenging ability. Green tea also had the highest radical scavenging ability as measured by the 2, 2-azino-di-[3-ethylbenzothialozine-sulphonic acid] [ABTS] radical scavenging ability and ferric reducing antioxidant property [FRAP]. (1.04± 0.037mg/g and 1235.88 ± 22.67mmol/g respectively). Cocoa powder (PCA) had the highest iron II chelating ability (38.46 ± 2.72mg/g). The total phenolic content of the beverages had good correlation with total flavonoids, DPPH, ABTS and FRAP radical scavenging abilities with r values higher than 0.7. Vitamin C assay correlated well with DPPH free radical scavenging ability assay (r = 0.73) while iron (II) chelation ability correlated fairly with vitamin C (r = 0.43). The results suggest that the beverages possess significant radical scavenging ability that may be due to the presence of the antioxidant

Antioxidant and Free Radical Scavenging Abilities of some Indigenous Nigerian Drinks

Antioxidant contents of five local Nigerian drinks namely: ‘Kunu’, palmwine, plantain, soyabean and ‘zobo’ drinks were analyzed for flavonoids, phenols and vitamin C. The antioxidant scavenging abilities were evaluated using four invitro methods. ‘Zobo’ drink with sugar (Zs) had the highest phenolic contents (16.00 ±0.26mg/ml) while ‘zobo’ drink with ginger (ZG) recorded the highest flavonoids and vitamin C (3.91±0.02mg/ml and 2.31±0.01mg/ml) respectively. Local palm wine had the lowest phenols, flavonoids and vitamin C contents. (1.44± 0.00mg/ml, 0.10±0.04mg/ml and 0.29±0.02mg/ml respectively. ‘Zobo’ drink without sugar (ZNS) had the highest 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and the nitric oxide (NO) scavenging abilities of (70.18±0.65 % and 52.63±0.00%) respectively. ZG had the highest ferric reducing antioxidant property (FRAP), of 32.43±0.19 mgGAE/ml . A strong positive correlation exists between the total flavonoid, phenol and vitamin C content with their antioxidant capacities. Soybean was second to ‘zobo’ drinks in the scavenging of the DPPH radical and ferric reducing ability. ‘Kunu’ drinks had the lowest ability to mop up the DPPH radical (12.85±0.00 ), but a fair ability in the mopping up of the ABTS (0.32±0.001 ) and NO (21.05±7.44 ) radicals.. Plantain drink showed significantly (P≤ 0.05) lower levels of flavonoids and vitamin C in comparison to kunu drink

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. METHODS The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model-a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates-with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality-which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. FINDINGS The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2-100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1-290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1-211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4-48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3-37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7-9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. INTERPRETATION Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Correlation of Waist-Hip-Ratio and Waist-Height-Ratio to Cardiovascular Risks Factors in a Nigerian Population

Background: Waist circumference; (WC) waist-to- hip –ratio; (WHR), Waist-to-Height ratio(WHtR), could predict cardiovascular disease risk factors.Objective: To evaluate the correlation between central obesity measured by waist circumference (WC), waist hip ratio (WHR) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) with cardiovascular risk factors. (serum lipids, fasting bloodsugar (FBS) and blood pressure).Methods: A total of 104 adults, aged 21-70 years, mean age 39.5 ± 12.5 participated in the study. Height, Waist and hip circumference, blood  pressure, serum lipids and fasting blood sugar were determined.Results: Abdominal obesity as measured by WC, WHR, WHtR, are significantly higher in females. WC, triacylglycerol and very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) increased with age for both gender. LDL-C was notelevated; high HDL-C values were observed in 72% of the population. Fasting blood sugar levels were normal for all subjects. WC, WHR and WHtR were positively correlated with increased serum lipid sub fractions, systolic and diastolic blood pressure for both gender.Conclusion: The study revealed that central obesity as measured by waist circumference, Waist –to-hip ratio and waist-to height ratio is a good predictor of cardiovascular risk factorsKey words: Waist-to-hip ratio, serum lipids, blood pressure

Evaluation of Antioxidant and Free Radical Scavenging Abilities of some Nigerian Packaged Fruit Juices

Objective: This study was aimed at determining the antioxidants and free radical scavenging abilities of some packaged fruit juices (PFJ) widely used as source of fluids in Nigeria. Materials and methods: Packaged fruit juice samples produced by The Coca cola Company and Chi company namely: Apple(AP), blackcurrant, grape raspberry and Strawberry(Blackcurrant juice, BB), Guava(GU), Mango and Orange (MO), Orange(OR), Orange / Peach(OP), Orange, lemon, grape ,tangerine and lime (Citrus burst, CB), Pineapple (PA), Pineapple /Coconut (PC) and Lemon / lime(LL); were purchased from retail shops in Benin City, Nigeria. Total polyphenolic content was measured by the Folin–Ciocalteau and in vitro antioxidant capacity using four different assay methods namely1,1,-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl [ DPPH] and 2,2-azinobis(3-ehtylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) [ABTS] radical ion scavenging abilities, ferric ion reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and iron (Fe2+) chelationassays. Results: The results revealed that, Guava juice contained the highest amount of total phenolics (32.25 ±1.25mg/100ml gallic acid equivalents), and Vitamin C (26.55 ± 0.003mg/100ml).The highest amounts of total flavonoids was found in the citrus burst (14.65 ±3.04mg/ 100ml quercetin equivalents). Blackcurrant juice had the highest abilities to scavenge DPPH radical (53.55±10.88 %) and chelate iron (26.92 ±1.36 %) from solutions. Guava juice had the highest amount of ferric reducing antioxidant property (353.00mg/100ml). Correlation studies showed that, total phenol were positively correlated with vitamin C ( r = 0.71), reducing property (r = 0.96), ABTS (r = 0.52) and DPPH assays (r = 0.65). Generally, the antioxidant scavenging abilities were positively correlated with the antioxidants present in the fruit juices. DPPH scavenging ability was positively correlated with total phenol(r =0.65), total flavonoid (r = 0.544), vitamin C (r = 0.43), reducing property (r = 0.64) and ABTS (r = 0.48). However, iron chelating ability was negatively correlated at p≤ 0.05 with the antioxidants present in the juices studied Conclusion: Guava, blackcurrant and citrus burst fruit juices demonstrated high antioxidant content and free radical scavenging abilities. Orange, Pineapple/ coconut, lemon /lime fruit juices ranked low in the antioxidant content and radical scavenging abilities, but had high iron chelation ability. These package fruit juices contain antioxidants that can diminish the harmful effect of free radicals. Keywords: Fruit juices, antioxidant content, free radical scavenging abilit