Physicochemical and nutritional analysis of dried Moringa oleifera Lam. leaves and development of a functional food

Abstract

Nowadays, there is immense scope for foods that can impart health benefits beyond traditional nutrients. Moringa oleifera (Drumstick tree) is one such tree having enormous nutritional and medicinal benefits, belonging to the family Moringaceae also called miracle tree, is grown in the region of Ghardaia in southern Algeria. This study was done to evaluate the nutritional and chemical properties of the dried leaves powder as well as its incorporation as an ingredient in a functional food product. The nutritional composition of its dried and powdered leaves gave the following results: a carbohydrates content of 39.30%, 21.25% of proteins and 10.31% of lipids. The mineral composition showed 300 mg of Calcium, 10250 mg of Potassium, 30.37 mg of Sodium per 100g of dry weight. For phytochemical screening, the extract was obtained through three different extractions: by water maceration, water infusion and ethanol maceration which was followed by rotavapor passage, the three extractions were then lyophilised. The extraction yields were 17.26%, 19.74% and 21.01% for each of the water maceration extract, water infusion and ethanol maceration extracts respectively. Total polyphenols content of 1.31 mgGAE/g for water maceration extract, 1.09 mgGAE/g for water infusion and 1.97 mgGAE/g for the ethanol extract. And 3.26 mgQE/g, 8.94 mgQE/g and 0.79 mgQE/g for flavonoids for each of the water maceration, water infusion and ethanol extracts respectively. The alkaloid content was found to be 0.84 g/g of sample. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by the free radical scavenging capacity DPPH with 50% free radical inhibition concentrations estimated at 74.01 μg/mL for water maceration, 60.02 μg/mL for water infusion and 14 μg/mL for ethanol extract respectively against 29 μg/mL for BHT; Whereas the ferric reducing power was found to be 33.37%, 59.03% and 77.10% for the water maceration, water infusion and ethanol extracts in order. The sensory evaluation results showed that the garlic flavored crackers were the most appreciated and rated the highest of all the samples containing Moringa oleifera leaves powder out of the four samples created.