Abstract:
Diabetes and hypertension are two non communicable diseases prevalent in developed and developing nations which can be managed using dietshe aim of this study was to produce and evaluate the anti-diabetes and anticholesterolemic potential of diets made from the blends of unripe plantain, soycake and rice bran. The unripe plantain were cut, washed, oven dried, milled and sieved into flour. The rice bran and soycake were also processed into flours respectively. The flours were mixed as follows: sample A(65.33% unripeplantain,25% soybean cake, 9.67% rice bran); sample B (70% unripe plantain, 25% soycake, 5% soycake); sample C (70% unripe plantain, 21.5% soycake, 8.5% rice bran) and Cerolina (market sample) was used as reference. The proximate composition, amino acid profile, anti-diabetes potential, hematological analysis, lipid profile, histopathological examination and sensory evaluation of the dough meal made from the formulated flours were determined using standard methods. The total essential amino acid TEAA ranged from 327.1 to 383.9 mg/100g. The fibre and protein content ranged from 0.87 to 6.83 g/100g and 16.86 to 18.48 g/100g respectively. The percentage reduction of blood glucose level ranged from 50 to 75% with sample C having the highest percentage. The total amino acid ranged from 952.4 to 1030.5 mg/100g with Glutamate as the most abundant while Cystine is the least abundant. The cholesterol level were reduced and there were no significant difference in the white blood cell indices. Histopathological examination revealed that feeding on diets containing unripe plantain, soycake and rice bran can restore damages organs caused by alloxan induction to rats. Sensory evaluation showed that sample C was rated best in terms of overall acceptability over sample A and B rated less when compared with the control sample (Cerolina). Thus the study concluded that plantain, soycake and ricebran could reduce diabetes, hypercholesterolmic condition hence, have potential to be used as functional food.
