This study was carried out to evaluate the total phenolic content and anti-oxidant activity of methanolic extract of red pitaya, and hypocholesterolemic effect of red pitaya (Hylocereus sp.) on lipid profiles status on hypercholesterolemia induced rats. From the analysis, total phenolic content in red pitaya is 46.06 ± 1.77 mg GAE/100 g fresh weight and antioxidant activity is 76.10% using FTC method. TBA analysis also showed red pitaya extract had high antioxidant effect (72.90%). An in-vivo study also showed red pitaya has hypocholesterolemic effect on induced hypercholesterolemia rats. After 11 weeks of study, total blood cholesterol significant decrease (p
This study investigated the protein quality of two sets of Roselle seeds processed differently (dried and boiled). Twenty weanling Sprague Dawley rats were used to conduct the growth and nitrogen balance studies. Rats were fed with 10% (w/w) protein from dried (DS) and boiled (BS) Roselle seeds powder for 4 weeks. Casein was used in this study as a standard reference protein. There was a significantly higher (p < 0.05) food intake and weight gain by rats fed with BS compared with DS. In the growth study, there was no significant difference (p < 0.05) in protein efficiency ratio (PER) and net protein ratio (NPR) of BS compared to DS, but it was significantly different with casein (CD). PER value of rats fed with DS was significantly lower (p < 0.05) than casein. In the nitrogen balance study, true nitrogen absorption (TNA) and nitrogen balance (NB) of BS group was significantly higher (p < 0.05) than DS group. However, apparent digestibility (AD), true digestibility (TD) and biological value (BV) for both diets was not significantly different. This study showed that the protein quality of dried Roselle seeds was similar to the Roselle seeds boiled at 100oC for 30 minutes.
This study was conducted to determine radical scavenging activity and vitamin antioxidant composition in red pitaya from organic plantation. For antioxidant vitamins analysis, a reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography was used and radical scavenging activity of methanolic and water extract were determined using 1,1-diphenyl-2-pircrylhydrazyl assay. Results for radical scavenging activity, red pitaya methanolic extract achieved the highest percentage 70.13% compared with water extract (47.13%). Antioxidant vitamins composition in red pitaya showed that the concentration of vitamin A is 120.13 ± 0.69 μg/100 g freeze-dried sample, vitamin C is 540.27 ± 0.59 μg/100 g fresh samples and vitamin E is 105.67 ± 0.56 μg/100 g freeze-dried samples. This shows that red pitaya may become an alternative and potential source of natural antioxidant.