Search

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recommend consuming at least 25 g of dietary fibre daily. Adults with low fibre intake have an increased constipation risk. However, little research has been done on the habitual dietary fibre intake and lifestyle characteristics of functional constipation in Malaysian adults. Thus, the purpose of this study is to determine the dietary fibre intake, lifestyle characteristics, and functional constipation of adults in Malaysia, as well as the association between habitual dietary fibre intake, lifestyle characteristics, and functional constipation. About 318 adults between the ages of 18 and 59 participated and were asked to complete an online questionnaire consisting of three major parts. The components are as follows: i) the assessment of dietary fibre intake by using a semi-quantitative dietary fibre food frequency questionnaire; ii) the assessment of lifestyle factors; and iii) the determination of functional constipation via the Wexner Constipation Scoring System. SPSS 25 was used to analyse the data at a significance level of 0.05. The results indicated that the majority of adults consumed dietary fibre in amounts less than 25 g per day (84.6%). About 97.5% of adults have a healthy lifestyle, and only 2.8% of adults in this study faced constipation. There was no significant association between habitual dietary fibre intake and lifestyle characteristics (p=0.614) or between habitual dietary fibre intake and functional constipation among adults in Malaysia (p=0.147). Continued efforts are needed to increase dietary fibre intake among the adult population.

Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) gum (FG) has been identified as a hydrocolloid, with promising emulsifying and stabilizing properties. In an emulsion-based food system, these properties dramatically increased when FG was mixed with soy protein isolate (SPI). Nevertheless, it is highly dependent on mixing parameters such as FG:SPI ratio, pH, and temperature, and it is currently not well understood. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of FG:SPI ratio (3:1 - 1:1), pH (3 - 9), and temperature (65 - 85 °C) on techno-functional properties (flow properties, emulsifying properties, and turbidity) of the FG-SPI dispersion, to reveal the optimum mixing parameters. A response surface regression modeling demonstrated that the quadratic effect of the FG:SPI ratio had significantly (p

This study aimed to determine the effect of different solvents and temperatures on the citral concentration and antioxidant properties of freeze-dried lemongrass powder extract. Freeze-dried lemongrass powder was extracted using three solvent extractions of hexane, petroleum ether, and methanol at three different temperatures of 27°C, 40°C, and 60°C. Citral concentrations of lemongrass extract were identified and quantified by gas chromatography and flame ionization detector (GC-FID) while antioxidant properties were determined using analysis of total phenolic content, DPPH radical scavenging activity, and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay. Results from this study show that the methanol extract at 40°C obtained the highest total yield (37.70 ± 1.78%). Hexane was found to be the most effective solvent to extract citral compound from freeze-dried lemongrass powder with 239.08 ± 1.28 mg/mL of concentration at temperature extraction of 27°C. However, the efficiency of hexane decreasing upon heating. This study suggested that the solvent extraction using methanol at 40°C is the efficient extraction for total phenolic compound (7419.33 ± 110.78 mg GAE/L), DPPH radical scavenging activity (87.45 ± 2.70%), and FRAP assay (52.11 ± 0.07 TE/mL) of freeze-dried lemongrass powder.

The main objective of this study was to determine effect of different heat pretreatments on chemical and antioxidant properties of Melon Manis Terengganu (MMT) seed oil. The seeds were treated with four different heat pretreatment which were untreated (control), roasting, steaming and microwaving. Then the MMT seed oil was extracted from each treated seed using conventional extraction method. The chemical tests determined on the MMT seed oil were free fatty acid (FFA), iodine value (IV), saponification value and fatty acid composition. The antioxidant properties for MMT seed oil evaluated was total phenolic content (TPC), 1,1- diphenyl-2-picrylhdrazyl (DPPH) scavenging capacity and Ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP). It was found that different heat pretreatments of MMT seed significantly (p