DEVELOPMENT OF FUNCTIONAL FOODS USING CEYLON CINNAMON, GARCINIA, AND GUAVA LEAVES

The lavish herbal profile of Sri Lanka has a much limited general utilization other than in  Ayurveda medicine. A potential way to address this gap is the herbal application in functional foods and nutraceuticals given the trending attention on healthy foods with natural origin worldwide. Therefore, this study was aimed at developing herbal incorporated functional foods and evaluating their functional/nutraceutical, nutritional and sensory properties. The functional foods developed in this study were, a herbal tea blend incorporates, Garcinia quaesita, Psidium guajava, Cinnamamom verum and Camelia  sinensis, a herbal cracker incorporates, G. quaesita, and Allium sativum, a herbal appetizer  incorporates, G. quaesita and a herbal beverage incorporates, G. quaesita and Coriandrum  sativum. All these products were assessed for sensory properties, functional properties, and  nutritional properties. Sensory evaluations were done in the developing process as well as for the end product for the attributes; color, appearance, aroma, texture, thickness, taste, bitterness, acidity, aftertaste, and overall acceptability involving a 30-membered sensory evaluation panel. Nutritional profiles were assessed through AOAC standard procedures in proximate evaluation. As functional properties: the total polyphenol content was assessed through the Folin-ciocalteu method, FRAP assay was used in evaluating total antioxidant activity and the total flavonoid content was evaluated by colourimetric method using AlCl3 reagent. All four products have received above “3” scores from the 5-point hedonic scale, which is considered an “acceptable sensory score” in the sensory evaluation for each attribute. The nutritional profiles of the entire product were compatible with commercially available products in the particular food category. Each product reported a significant amount of polyphenols and flavonoids with remarkable antioxidant activity. However, the highest functional significance was shown by the Herbal tea consisting of G. quaesita, P. guajava, C. verum and C. sinensis. Being comprised of direct herbal infusions as well as the synergetic effect of the herbal materials seems to be the potential factors behind these elevated functional properties. The reported values were, 1945.000±0.907 mg GAE/L, 3365.000±0.590 mg TE/L and 36.300±0.362 mg QE/L being the total polyphenol content, total antioxidant activity and the total flavonoid activity respectively. Therefore, it could be concluded that the herbal incorporation in novel functional foods was a successful approach with easily adoptable technologies and retained sensory and nutritional profiles. 

Keywords: Antioxidants, Functional foods, Herbal, Dietary supplements, Polyphenols, Feedback sensory