Determination of Macronutrient Compositions in Selected, Frequently Consumed Leafy Vegetables, Prepared According to Common Culinary Methods in Sri Lanka

Information regarding realistic macronutrient gains by consuming cooked Sri Lankan leafy vegetables are rare. Some available information often overestimates available carbohydrate contents and under-estimates dietary fibre contents, as a result of not using in-vitro digestion models prior to proximate analysis. In aim to address this issue, nine most frequently consumed leafy vegetables types in Sri Lanka were cooked and analysed for their moisture, digestible carbohydrate, protein, fat, soluble fibre and insoluble fibre contents. All vegetables were prepared in most frequently practiced culinary methods by the local community such as salads, tempered with oils, or as curries/gravies. Dry weights of all macronutrients were determined using six replicates to maximize the accuracy of results.Majority of the leafy vegetable types selected elicited substantial amounts of dietary fibre. The highest content of insoluble dietary fibre was present in Centella asiatica (centella) leaves salad (51.0±3.4%), whereas highest percentage of soluble dietary fibre was in Heracleum sphondylium (hogweed) leaves prepared as a curry (16.4±1.7%). H. sphondylium curry (20.7±1.3%) and Sesbania grandiflora (Hummingbird) leaves salad (20.7±0.9%) resulted in greatest amounts of digestible carbohydrates.The highest fat content (12.6±0.5%) was in Ipomoea aquatic (water spinach) since it was tempered with coconut oil as it is the mostly practiced local culinary method for Ipomoea. Spinacia oleracea (spinach) curry elicited the highest protein content (4.8±0.9%) among all leafy vegetables.Keywords: Dietary fibre, leafy vegetables, digestible carbohydrates, Centella asiatica, Heracleum sphondylium, Sesbania grandiflor

Comparative Study on Sugar Content of Under-Utilized Sargassum spp.

Seaweeds contain high amount of carbohydrates approximating to 10% of the total nutritional composition. Detailed analysis of brown algae has exposed complex combinations of monosaccharides. Such found sugars are components of galactose, glucose, mannose, fructose, fucose and xylose. Glucose content found in the analyzed varieties were from 65% to 20%. However, in Sri Lankan context, Sargassum spp. is considered as under exploited and therefore this study is focused on to analyze the total sugar content of four Sargassum species available in Sri Lanka. Live specimens were collected from Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka (Latitude: 6.1313, Longitude: 80.1007) and the cleaned samples were oven dried and grounded into powder. Samples were hydrolyzed, and the sugar concentration was obtained by measuring the absorbance at 490 nm. Results were calculated against the standard curve drawn for D-Glucose. It was observed that the Sargassum spp. 01 has the highest sugar content (11.9%±3.5), while Sargassum Spp. 03 followed closely (11.6%±0.74). Slightly less concentration was found in Spp. 02 (10.2% ±0.09), while spp. 04 was observed to have the lowest sugar content (7.2%±2) from the analysed varieties. To establish the received sugar content, a sensory analysis was performed by using seaweed inclusive cookies with 10% from all 4 varieties. From the results obtained, it was seen that there is no significant difference at p<0.05 significance level for high sugar varieties of species 01 (p=1) and low sugar varieties (p=0.5). However, the score obtained for species 01 and 03 were higher than 02 and 04 therefore confirms that the analytical variation of sugar content if justified by the sensory profiling context as well.Keywords: Sargassum spp, Sugar, Dubois, Sensory, Seaweed

Investigation of Daily Macronutrient intakes by Sri Lankan Managerial Level Employees working in the Private Sector

With changes of lifestyles and social values in the food culture, many individuals working as managerial level employees in the as private sector are seemingly selecting more improper daily meal combinations. This study was designed to determine whether this occurrence can have a severe impact to imbalance the daily nutrient intakes by the individuals in the mentioned social segment, which increase the tendency of having nutrition related chronic diseases. In a hierarchy range from junior executives to CEOs of private sector organizations, 800 individuals were selected by disproportionate stratified random sampling. Selected individuals are interviewed using a structured questionnaire to assess their daily food combinations and their consumed portion sizes. Frequently consumed meal combinations were then analyzed for their macronutrient composition, to compare with world Health organizations’ (WHO) Reference Dietary Intake (RDI) levels of nutrients. The results reveal of significantly (p<0.05) higher daily fat (45.3 ±1.7 g/day) and protein (65.2 ±1.4 g/day) intakes than the WHO recommendation levels and significantly (p<0.05) lower in dietary fibre (22.3 ±1.1 g/day) contents by selected participants. Carbohydrate intake (133.1 ±2.2 g/day) was higher than reference levels but was not significant (p>0.05). This indicates of a considerable risk for many individuals in the concerned social segment, of having non-communicable diseases, if observed dietary patterns are continued

Bioethanol production from <em>Chara globularis</em> using yeast and yield improvement by optimization of conditions

The rising population, depletion of petroleum-based fossil fuel and atmospheric contaminations by combustion of fossil fuel have opened avenues for alternative, eco-friendly and renewable energy sources. Bioethanol is an alternative and renewable source that has drawn attention due environmental concerns and energy security with non-renewable sources. This study was aimed at determining the potential bioethanol producing freshwater flora that are abundantly available in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka using Saccharomyces cerevisiae and to optimize the fermentation conditions to enhance the ethanol yield from Chara globularis. Freshwater flora such as C. globularis, Cabomba caroliniana, Spirodela polyrhiza, Salvinia minima, Salvinia natans, Wolffia arrhiza and Wolffia globosa were hydrolysed with 1M sulfuric acid solution to determine the reducing sugar and bioethanol yields. C. globularis produced a higher amount of reducing sugar and bioethanol than other species tested. When C. globularis was pre-treated with 1 M acid solutions (sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and hydrochloric acid) and alkaline solutions (sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide), a higher reducing sugar and bioethanol yields were obtained with sulfuric acid. When bioethanol was produced from C. globularis using S. cerevisiae following three different hydrolysis methods viz., acid hydrolysis (1 M sulfuric acid), enzymatic hydrolysis (1% alphaamylase) and combination of chemical and enzymatic hydrolysis (1 M sulfuric acid and 1% alpha-amylase), the combination of chemical and enzymatic hydrolysis gave a higher yield, thus was selected. The conditions for fermentation of C. globularis substrate using S. cerevisiae were optimized sequentially by changing one factor at a time while keeping the other variables constant. After the optimization of fermentation time (24 hours), operating temperature (35 °C), rotation speed (200 rpm) and sulfuric acid concentration for combined pre-treatment (0.75 M) with an inoculum size of 100 g l-1, bioethanol yield was increased

Insights into Starch Coated Nanozero Valent Iron-Graphene Composite for Cr(VI) Removal from Aqueous Medium

Embedding nanoparticles into an inert material like graphene is a viable option since hybrid materials are more capable than those based on pure nanoparticulates for the removal of toxic pollutants. This study reports for the first time on Cr(VI) removal capacity of novel starch stabilized nanozero valent iron-graphene composite (NZVI-Gn) under different pHs, contact time, and initial concentrations. Starch coated NZVI-Gn composite was developed through borohydrate reduction method. The structure and surface of the composite were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), and point of zero charge (pHpzc). The surface area and pHpzc of NZVI-Gn composite were reported as 525 m2 g−1 and 8.5, respectively. Highest Cr(VI) removal was achieved at pH 3, whereas 67.3% was removed within first few minutes and reached its equilibrium within 20 min obeying pseudo-second-order kinetic model, suggesting chemisorption as the rate limiting process. The partitioning of Cr(VI) at equilibrium is perfectly matched with Langmuir isotherm and maximum adsorption capacity of the NZVI-Gn composite is 143.28 mg g−1. Overall, these findings indicated that NZVI-Gn composite could be utilized as an efficient and magnetically separable adsorbent for removal of Cr(VI)

The association of circulating amylin with β-amyloid in familial Alzheimer's disease.

INTRODUCTION: This study assessed the hypothesis that circulating human amylin (amyloid-forming) cross-seeds with amyloid beta (Aβ) in early Alzheimer's disease (AD). METHODS: Evidence of amylin-AD pathology interaction was tested in brains of 31 familial AD mutation carriers and 20 cognitively unaffected individuals, in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) (98 diseased and 117 control samples) and in genetic databases. For functional testing, we genetically manipulated amylin secretion in APP/PS1 and non-APP/PS1 rats. RESULTS: Amylin-Aβ cross-seeding was identified in AD brains. High CSF amylin levels were associated with decreased CSF Aβ42 concentrations. AD risk and amylin gene are not correlated. Suppressed amylin secretion protected APP/PS1 rats against AD-associated effects. In contrast, hypersecretion or intravenous injection of human amylin in APP/PS1 rats exacerbated AD-like pathology through disruption of CSF-brain Aβ exchange and amylin-Aβ cross-seeding. DISCUSSION: These findings strengthened the hypothesis of circulating amylin-AD interaction and suggest that modulation of blood amylin levels may alter Aβ-related pathology/symptoms