PhD

With a global increase in the prevalence of lifestyle diseases, both nutrition and functional foods play key roles in its prevention and management. Functional foods from natural sources are cost effective, sustainable and reduce the risk factors. In this context, the present investigation entitled “Development, quality assessment and clinical efficacy of ‘Functional Food Supplement’ (FFS) for life style disease management” was conducted to develop a Functional Food Supplement (FFS) using locally available food ingredients that are not included in our daily diet due to ignorance or over sight but are rich in bioactive compounds with the twin ability of nourishment and therapeutic action.
The constituents selected for the FFS contain barley, ragi, banana, defatted soy flour, drumstick leaves and mushroom. Different proportions of the ingredients were worked out based on their nutritional qualities, amino acid scores, fibre content and other health promoting properties and sensory qualities. Dehydration and fermentation were the two processing techniques applied to standardize the FFSs.
From the twenty combinations worked out, after different levels of screening, four combinations were selected under the dehydration technique. In the fermentation technique, one combination (combination XIV) selected from the dehydration techniques subjected to four different treatments was identified for further investigation. Best suitable combination from each processing technique was identified based on functional properties and sensory qualities. Thus DT4 (B: R: Bp: DSF: DLp: Mp = 3.5:2.0:1.5:2.5:0.25:0.25) from FFS I was selected for in-depth investigation. While in the case of FFS II yeast fermented batter (FT4) was identified as the best combination. The identified FFS I & II were subjected to indepth investigations such as quality analysis based on nutrient content, functional properties, phytochemical content, storage stability and clinical efficacy on the lifestyle diseases.
Significant differences were found in the nutrient contents of FFS I & II. FFS I had higher energy content of 384 kcal, protein 21.4 g and fat 1.88g. Nutrient status of FFS II showed (378 kcal) of energy, 16.5 g of protein and 1.56 g of fat which were considerably lower than that of FFS I. Fibre and β – glucan content of FFS I were (4.0 g) and (1.60 g) respectively. Though FFS II is found to contain higher amounts of β–glucans (1.68 g) compared to FFS I, it had significantly lower fibre content of 3.33 g. The variation noted in the carbohydrate content of FFS I was 60.5 g against 58 g of FFS II which were statistically insignificant.
FFS II on fermentation had produced a remarkable increase in the β-carotene (2910 µg), thiamine (1.63 mg), riboflavin (1.3 mg), niacin (2.68 mg) and folic acid (40.0 mg) levels. However, vitamin E (3.35 µg) and Vitamin C (8.73 mg) content of FFS I was significantly higher than FFS II. FFS I had a significantly higher composition of all the macro (potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus), micro (iron, copper, zinc, manganese) and trace elements (selenium) compared to FFS II. The total antioxidant activity and DPPH free radical scavenging activity of both FFS I & II developed proved to be in favour of the disease management. Phytochemical contents of FFS I was significantly higher than FFS II. Amino acid profile depicted that, Glutamic acid (132.9 nmoles/ml) is the highest amino acid in FFS I while FFS II elicited high amounts of Glycine (107.6 nmoles/ml). The Total Essential Amino acid (TEAA) content, Essential Amino Acid index and Nutritional index per cent were higher in FFS I when compared to FFS II.
Assessment of functional qualities of the developed functional food supplements based on the parameters viz. pasting properties, textural properties, colour attributes and particle size showed that, both FFS I & II were equally acceptable and had higher market potentials. Moisture, peroxides and microbial contents were bare minimum during storage, promoting them for better marketability. The cost of one Kg of both FFS I & II was Rs. 200/- and the cost of one portion size of the products was only Rs. 4.0/- indicating better economic viability when scaled up against health.
Efficacy of the developed FFS was tested in the selected subjects from Elamkulam panchayat of Malappuram district, with lifestyle diseases viz. hyperglycemia, hypercholesterolemia and hypertension. Impact of the supplementation (20 gm per day) of FFS (I & II) on selected subjects was closely monitored through clinical parameters like fasting and post prandial blood sugar, Glycemic Index, blood pressure and lipid profile and general health and morbidity. The findings proved that both FFS I & II were equally good in lowering the FBS, PPBS, Total Cholesterol, LDL, VLDL, Triglycerides and blood pressure levels of the subjects. Both FFS I & II also had a favourable role in enhancing HDL levels. Except, blood pressure all the other parameters of the subjects had come to normal values at the end of supplementation period. Glycemic Index values of FFS I & II and Glycemic load were low which further supports the therapeutic function of the products.
Findings of the present investigation strongly recommend that both FFS I & II developed proved to be efficient in the dietary management of the subjects with lifestyle diseases as the developed FFSs are proved to contain therapeutic and health promoting properties. The study recommends that natural food ingredients can be effectively utilized for the development of functional food supplements for the management of lifestyle diseases. With the virtue of the studied parameters, the FFSs could be promoted for commercialization.
In vivo studies to prove the therapeutic role of the developed functional food supplements in managing the lifestyle diseases can be taken as a future prospective. Large scale studies to strengthen and validate the clinical role FFS has to be undertaken. Commercialization and market acceptability of the developed FFS has to be promoted for the benefit of subjects who are obsessed with food but are instead stuck to medicines for treatment and management of diseases.