Bakery fortification and biological evalation of bottle gourd seeds [lagenaria siceraria]

This study was conducted to investigate the potential use of roasted bottle gourd seeds [BGS] as a source of protein, oil and fiber in some bakery products [white pan bread and cup cake] and determine their hypocholesterolemic effects in rats. The roasted whole BGS were subjected to different chemical determinations [Trypsin inhibitor activity and proximal composition]. White pan bread and cup cake were fortified with roasted whole BGS and their kernel flours at different percentages [10, 15 and 20%]. All the fortified samples were subjected to both objective and organoleptic evaluation. The fortified products which maintained better characteristics were subjected to nutritive value determination. The biological study included 20 male albino rats of Sprague Dawley strain, weighing [120 +/- 10 g] and lasted for 4 weeks. The rats were divided into four main groups [n = 5 rats] as follows group 1 [control] fed on a basal diet, group 2 hypocholesterolemic [HC] rats fed on a high fat and high cholesterol diet, group 3 rats fed on hypocholesterolemic diet containing [10%] raw BGS flour and group 4 rats fed on hypocholesterolemic diet containing [10%] roasted BGS flour. Food intake, body weight gain, feed efficiency ratio [FER], relative organ weights. hematocrit level, serum calcium, iron and lipid profiles were determined. Results showed that the chemical composition of fortified white pan bread and cup cake improved significantly [p<0.05] as compared to the control. The biological study showed that rats fed on raw BGS had significant [p<0.05] decrease in food intake, body weight gain, FER, hematocrit level and high density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration, while it induced significant [p<0.05] increase in low density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations as compared to the control group. Meanwhile, roasted BGS caused significant [p<0.05] increase in body weight gain and ameliorate the lipid profile parameters. Feeding tested rats on raw and roasted BGS each individually resulted in non-significant [p<0.05] decrease in calcium level and non-significant increase in iron level comparing with HC group. It can be concluded that under the study condition, roasted BGS had good impact on nutritional values of bakery products and showed hypocholesterolemic effectl on experimental animals

Microbiological investigation and nutritional evaluation of selected fast food meat

The study was designed into two parts the first part was to determine individual attitudes and beliefs toward fast food in general. One hundred individuals [15-45 yrs old] were involved in this study [50 males and 50 females]. The second part of the study was carried out to evaluate microbiological contamination and nutritive value of the selected fast food meat [Hardee's fried burger, Saudi-American burger, kentucky fried chicken, Al-Baik broast chicken and shawerma beef]. The results indicated that individuals 25-45 yrs. old were the most fast food consumers. The main reason behind increasing individual's preferences toward fast food was found to be for fun and inspiration. Among individuals under study 46% of males and 20% of females purchased fast food more than 4 times per week. Prevalence of overweight and obesity respectively were 38% and 22% among males and 34% and 14% among females. Bacillus cereus and E. coli were detected in a number of less than 10/g in all the selected fast food meat. The number of coliforms detected in Hardee's burger and Saudi-American burger were 10/g, while less than 10/g were detected in the remaining fast food meat. However, the number of Staph. aureus detected in Hardee's burger and Saudi-American burger was 20/g and big respectively. On a per 100 g basis, energy [Kcal], protein [g], fat [g] and sodium [mg] content were found in the range of 179.62-295.29, 13.05-26.06, 8.9-21.13 and 640- 920 respectively. Sodium content of all the selected fast food - meat exceeded the recommended daily adequate intake for adults [males and females]. The observations of the present study indicated the need for a nutrition education program to correct consumers' attitudes and beliefs towards fast food and to provide information on how a given menu item contributes to their dietary goal