Nutritional assessment of raw, frozen and dried Egyptian mallow

ABSTRACT

The Egyptian mallow had been used since ancient Egyptian times. The fresh or frozen or dried leaves of Egyptian mallow was used as food and medicine. The present investigation was carried out in an attempt to clarify the nutritional assessment of raw, frozen and dried Egyptian mallow. The study included the determination of the gross chemical composition and caloric value as well as the beta-carotene and lutein contents were evaluated. Meanwhile, the vitamin A activity as retinal equivalents [RE] was calculated as recommended by WHO. The data revealed that the raw Egyptian mallow recorded an intermediate values for all chemical components, i.e. protein [24.74%], fat [6.43%], ash [15.79%], except for carbohydrate [49.95%]. Likewise, the caloric value of raw Egyptian mallow recorded a similar intermediate trend [354.63 k.cal./100 g] between dried and frozen Egyptian mallow. On the other hand, the frozen Egyptian mallow had the highest value of protein [25.63%], fat [13.96%] and caloric value [425.88 k.cal/100 g]. In addition, the dried Egyptian mallow recorded the highest values of ash [21.37%] and crude fibers [21.12%], an intermediate values of protein [14.02%], carbohydrate [39.10%] and caloric value [251.99 k.cal./100 g]. Moreover, the data revealed that the dried mallow contained the highest beta-carotene content [479.41 micro g/g] reaching six-fold its content in the raw mallow [79.73 micro g/g]. While, the frozen mallow recorded an intermediate beta-carotene content amounting to [200 micro g/g]. On the other hand, the data revealed close similar trend for lutein as for beta-carotene contents of both of raw, frozen and dried mallow. However, the lutein contents recorded almost half the values recorded for beta-carotene, namely 42.70 micro g/g, 97.71 micro g/g, and 264.24 micro g/g in the raw, frozen and dried mallow, respectively. Likewise, the calculated retinal equivalent [RE] of raw, frozen and dried mallow recorded close similar trend to that of beta-carotene