Herbs and spices in aging

Herbs and spices are rich in bioactive antioxidants, dietary fibers, proteins, minerals, vitamins, phytochemicals and sometimes unsaturated fatty acids. Traditionally, herbs and spices are used as flavoring and culinary agents in food, and as medicine. Recent research has confirmed and revealed their therapeutic and protective effects for health and disease management in various animal models and clinical studies. The diseases include cardiovascular ailments, cancer, cataracts, macular degeneration, diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, stroke, inflammation, and cognition impairment. Many of these diseases can be considered as diseases of aging as their incidence increases, markedly as people age, and such diseases contribute to high rates of morbidity and mortality in the elderly. Some active compounds and modes of action have been identified and compiled. The herbs and spices covered in this chapter include cloves, saffron, turmeric, ginger, oregano, cinnamon, cumin, black pepper, Vitex negundo, Moringa olefera leaves, fenugreek, chili, pennywort, Ginkgo and seaweed

Formation of Protein Film from Chickpea Dha)

The optimum conditions for the formation of chickpea dhal protein film and the characteristics of the films were studied. Optimum yield of protein films was obtained form chickpea dhal at bean: water ratios of 1:5 to 1: 7 and in the pH range of 9.0 to 10. O. The chickpea protein films were darker and more brittle than soybean protein films

Effect of Packaging and Modified Atmosphere on the Shelf Life of Rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum) I

Rambutans undergo rapid darkening and dehydration of the skin in 72 hours or less when stored unwrapped at ambient temperature. Skin colour, firmness and weight of rambutans could be effectively preserved by low temperature storage, packagings and modifying the storage atmosphere. Low temperature storage at SOc prolonged the shelf life of fresh unwrapped rambutans to 6 days. Low permeability packaging (polyethylene rigid containers) together with low temperature storage extended the shelf life further to 18 days. Increasing the initial concentration of carbon dioxide to an optimum level of 7% at SOc effectively suppressed respiration offresh rambutan and prolonged the shelf life to nearly a month. Total absence of oxygen (as with vacuum packages) was detrimental to the shelf life offresh rambutan, since the fruit was unable to respire normally. A good co"elationship was found between weight loss of rambutan, darkening of skin and frimness of the fruit. The post harvest deterioration of rambutans was found to be mostly physiological

Hypoglycemic effect of extracts of Petai Papan (Parkia speciosa, Hassk)

The oml administration of the chloroform extract of Parkia speciosa to alloxan-induced diabetic rats produced a significant (p<0.01) decrease in blood glucose levels. The hypoglycemic response was approximately proportional to the square root of the dose given. The hypoglycemic activity of the extract reached a maximum 2-5 hours rifter oral administration of the extract and lasted for at least 24 hours

Maintaining the colour, texture and vitamin C of cold-stored pineapples through shrinkwrapping and surface-coating with liquid raraffin

Low density polyethylene shrinkwrapping significantly reduced weight loss and texture loss in Mauritius pineapples stored at 10°C, 15°C, 20°C and ambient temperatures. Suiface coating with paraffin inhibited internal browning in cold-stored pineapples and helped retain a high vitamin C content in the pineapples during storage. Paraffin coating was most effective at maintaining the colour of fresh pineapples and reducing the acidity. A combination ofparaffin waxing and shrinkwrapping was found to be effective in maintaining all the parameters studied. Control untreated pineapples exhibited high weight loss, texture loss, over ripening, fungal attack and internal browning during cold storage. Weight loss was found to be negatively correlated to ascorbic acid content and pulp texture under most conditions

Effects of various food components on the expansion, oil absorption, and crispiness of fried rice dough

The physical characteristics offried dough were studied using model systems based on rice flours. Fried dough of maximum crispiness and minimum oil absorption were obtained from flour mixtures containing rice: glutinous rice in the ratio of 75:25 (amylose:amylopectin ratio = 9:69). Volume expansion and oil absorption of the finished product were found to be directly proportional to the amylopectin content and inversely proportional to the amylose content of the flour (r2 = 0.98 and 0.96 respectively). The best fitted lines for predicting the volume expansion and oil absorption offried dough are y = 120.6 + 7.16x and y = 23.4 + 0.15x respectively, where x is the amylopectin/amylose content of the whole flour. Amylose was found to increase hardness and reduce oil absorption of the fried product. Grispiness of the fried product was further improved by the addition of a little egg albumin, oil, GaGa] and pregelatinised rice flour. Although pregelatinised rice flour improved crispiness, it increased oil absorption. Oil absorption was reduced by the addition of 2.5 -5.5% oil and 4 -12% egg albumin to the flour

Effect of Pretreatments on the Characteristics of Dried Grey Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus sajor - caju)

Sodium hypochlorite, sodium metabisulphite and glycerol were effective in reducing the browning of dried mushrooms. Addition of glycerol also improved the texture of rehydrated dried mushrooms while CaCl2 and alum produced a firm textured product, calcium being more effective than alum. Pretreatment with 0.3% cysteine-HCl helped preserve 82% of the ascorbic acid content in dried mushrooms compared to fresh mushrooms. The best drying temperature for colour and texture was 40'C; 60'C was best for ascorbic acid retention. Glycerol reduced shrinkage during drying and improved the ability of the dried mushrooms to rehydrate almost to an extent characteristic offresh mushrooms. Sensory evaluation showed that dried grey oyster mushrooms were well accepted; pretreatments caused a significant improvement in texture and colour (P < 0.05). The panellists gave insignificantly different scores for flavour and overall acceptability for all the rehydrated dried mushrooms even when compared to the fresh mushrooms

Measuring students' interest towards engineering in technical school: a case study

Estimating from the steady declining rate of engineering students in Malaysia, the country is predicted to be short of 236,000 engineers and technical personnel to achieve its 2020 Mission. Hence, it has built the first technical MARA Junior Science College that introduced engineering to lower secondary students. However, there is yet a study on whether or not it helps the students to increase their interests in engineering. Therefore, in this paper, a survey has been conducted to first and foremost investigate the technical students’ interests in engineering as well as finding out the reasoning from those who are not interested in engineering. After that, a half day engineering program is introduced with a measurement on the interest in engineering before and after the intervention is held. Finally, the survey studies which field of engineering the students are most interested in. The results show that, before the program is introduced, only 8.47% of the technical students have shown high interests in engineering field with only 7.5% female students are interested in engineering compared to 18.42% for male students. After the program is introduced, as high as 33.05% students rated their interest in engineering field as ‘most interested’, with 39.47% in male students and 30% in female students. It proves that an engineering event is crucial in increasing students’ interests in engineering. It also concludes that Electrical Engineering is the most favourite field of engineering with percentage score of 38.98%, while Electrical Power being the leastPeer Reviewe

Effect of Chemical Treatments on the Shelf Life of Rambutans (Nephelium lappaceum) - II

Dipping rambutans for 5 minutes in sodium metabisulphite, calcium chloride and metabisulphite or calcium chloride and ascorbic acid solutions helped reduce %unacceptable fruits by up to 30% when fruits were stored packaged at 8 C Chemical dipping of rambutans and sulfur dioxide treatments were found to be less effective in prolonging the shelf life compared to low temperature storage. Techniques which slow down respiration rate and dehydration rate- were found to be more effective in prolonging the shelf life of rambutans than methods to inhibit enzymic browning. Fruits treated with sodium metabisulphite + calcium chloride in PE at 8 C with soaking time of 5-10 minutes, remained sweet and firm on the 17th day. Shelf life of treated fruits stored at room temperature is not significantly different from untreated fruits