Antioxidant status, nutrition facts, and sensory of spinach extract fortified wet noodles

Healthy food has been a lifestyle trend in modern society since the last decades. Vegetable noodles as an alternative healthy food are often consumers’ choices considering that noodles are a favourite food today. This study aims to get more insight into the effect of spinach extract (SE) fortification on noodle dough toward antioxidant status, nutrition facts, and the sensory of wet spinach noodles (WSN) produced. The dough of wet noodle samples was treated by 4 different concentrations of SE fortification of 0, 0.4, 4.0, and 40 mg/mL in which for each treatment was quintuple. Results showed SE fortification had a significant effect on antioxidant status, some nutrient composition (protein, sugar, cholesterol, energy amount, iron, magnesium, and vitamin C), and sensory characteristics of the wet noodle. WSN with rich in antioxidants, low calories, and favoured by panellists was obtained at the optimum concentration of 4 mg/mL. Thus, SE was potential as food fortificant for developing WSN as a promising functional food product in the future.

Therapeutic Effect of Red Spinach (Amaranthus tricolor L.) Extract on Pancreatic MDA Levels Rats (Rattus norvegicus) Exposed to MLD-STZ

Background: Several studies have reported that an increase in blood glucose in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) can cause complications to death that occur due to oxidative stress conditions due to excessive ROS production. Red spinach extract was found to be rich in antioxidant compounds. However, there has been no further research on the ability of red spinach to lower blood glucose levels and prevent oxidative stress, which can be seen from the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA; a marker of oxidative stress) in the DM body.Objective: This study aims to determine whether there is a change in blood glucose levels and MDA levels in DM animal models between the groups that were given red spinach extract and not.Methods: This study used white rats (Rattus norvegicus) which were divided into 5 groups: K(-) group in which the rats were not induced by diabetogenic agent and were not treated; K(+) group, the rats were made DM induced by multiple low dose streptozotocin (MLD-STZ); and T1, T2, and T3 groups were exposed to MLD-STZ and treated with red spinach extract (Amaranthus tricolor L.) at a dose of 200 mg/kgBW, 300 mg/kgBW and 400 mg/kgBW, respectively. Blood sugar levels were checked before and after treatment with extract using glucometer digital. Meanwhile, MDA levels were measured by TBA test using protein isolates from the pancreas of each rat.Results: The results showed that the average MDA levels in the K-, K+, T1, T2, and T3 groups were 1.759±0.08, 2.280±0.15, 2.303±0.11, 1.927±0.06, and 1.801±0.04. While the average blood sugar levels in the K-, K+, T1, T2, and T3 groups were 114.4±8.82, 464±72.78, 421.2±37.60, 140.6±20.19, and 176±13.06.Conclusion: It can be concluded that the administration of red spinach extract therapy in DM model rats was able to reduce both glucose levels and MDA levels. By lowering the levels of MDA compounds, it is also believed to be able to prevent oxidative stress in cells which causes tissue damage.

Impact of Red Spinach Extract Supplementation on Bench Press Performance, Muscle Oxygenation, and Cognitive Function in Resistance-Trained Males

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of short-term dietary nitrate supplementation, in the form of red spinach extract (RSE), on bench press performance, muscle oxygenation, and cognitive function in resistance-trained males. Ten resistance-trained males participated in this randomized, cross-over, placebo-controlled, double-blind investigation. Each participant completed 7 days of either RSE (2 g; 180 mg NO3−) or a maltodextrin placebo (PL) in a counterbalanced fashion with a 14-day washout between treatments. During experimental visits, participants were provided their 8th and last dose of RSE or PL 40 min before completing 5 sets of the barbell bench press exercise to failure at 75% of a predetermined 1-repetition maximum with 2 min rest intervals. Mean and peak power were recorded via a linear transducer. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) was implemented to estimate muscle oxygenation, a Stroop Test was used to assess cognitive function, and subjective performance ratings were obtained in relation to the acute resistance exercise sessions. Data were analyzed via separate repeated measures analyses of variance. There were no time by group interactions for bench press repetitions (p = 0.549), peak power (p = 0.061), or mean power (p = 0.877) across the 5 sets of bench press. Additionally, no significant differences (p > 0.05) were observed for any measure of muscle oxygenation, Stroop performance, or subjective performance ratings. It appears that 7 days of RSE supplementation did not alter performance, muscle oxygenation, nor Stroop scores during or following the bench press exercise in resistance-trained males.

Spinach Extract Derived Carbon Dots Decorated on ZnO Nanorods for Photocatalytic Dye Degradation

The carcinogenic and mutagenic nature of organic dyes makes their removal from dye-containing wastewaters essential prior to the discharge of such wastewaters. We synthesized carbon dots having emission wavelengths in the near-infrared region from spinach extract. Thereafter, CDs were embedded on ZnO nanorods through hydrothermal treatment. The prepared ZnO doped with CDs were characterized by various analytical instruments and used to photocatalytically degrade methylene blue dye under sunlight. The as-prepared ZnO exhibited nanorod morphology, with the CDs doped on its surface. The dye degradation followed pseudo-first-order kinetics; the ZnO doped with CDs synthesized at pH 10 achieved the highest dye degradation, with a kinetic coefficient of 0.02889 min−1. This study shows that the photocatalytic efficiency of ZnO can be effectively improved by doping with CDs.

Karakteristik dan Aktivitas Antioksidan Velva Bayam Merah dan Penstabil CMC (Carboxyl Metyl Cellulose)

Red spinach is known as a food stuff for protein, vitamins A, B, and C and contains mineral salts. Red spinach is used as a natural dye because it is thought that red spinach has betacyanin and anthocyanin content that can produce a purpleish red color. Efforts to increase vegetable consumption are carried out by modifying as a velva, a frozen beverage product that are almost the same as low-fat ice cream Velva. The purpose of this study is to know the interaction of the addition of red spinach extract and CMC stabilizing material, to know the influence of red spinach concentration, and to know the influence of differences in cmc concentrations on Velva characteristics. The implementation of the experiment used a Randomized Group Design (RAK) that was factorially arranged consisting of 2 factors. Factor 1 is the concentration of red spinach extract consisting of 3 levels namely 20%, 25%, and 30% while factor 2 is CMC concentration consisting of 3 levels which is 0.5%, 0.75%, and 1%. Observation parameters include vitamin C levels, melting power, viscosity, antioxidants, anthocyanins, and organoleptics that include color, aroma, taste, texture, and fondness. The results showed that red spinach extract had a significant effect on antioxidants with the greatest value in B3 treatment (Spinach Extract 30%) 53.70%; vitamin C with the greatest value in B3 treatment (CMC 1%) 6.3 g/mL, and anthocyanins with the best 3 treatments are B3 at 1.1675 mL/L, while CMC has a significant effect on melting power, viscosity, and vitamin C Velva spinach red. The results showed that red spinach Velva contains a small amount of glycine so that the pigment contained is betacyanin.