Abstract:
Sri Lanka being a country which experiencing a nutrition transition has an urgent
need to search new food sources to nourish the people. Therefore, this study aimed to
evaluate the nutritional and antioxidant potential of underutilized fruit; tropical almond
(Terminalia catappa) (TA) nuts as a novel food source. The nutritional profile was
estimated in terms of moisture, protein, fat, ash, carbohydrate content and energy value
while the mineral composition was analyzed using Inductively coupled plasma mass
spectrometry (ICP-MS). Further bioactive compounds and antioxidant properties of TA
nuts were estimated. Interestingly the moisture content of the dried nuts was 7.50±0.95
lower than recommended value of 10% for edible nuts. It showed 21.32± 0.27% of protein
which contributed to 38-46% of Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) of protein of an adult.
Further, the protein fraction contributed nearly 13% of total energy of the TA nut.
More than half (53.76±2.41%) of weight of the nut was fat, contributing 55.42-122.15%
of DRI. The carbohydrate content was 13.0±1.21% while 7.42±0.41% was fibre. The
carbohydrate fraction showed a 10% of contribution to DRI of carbohydrate. Similarly,
the nut showed an energy value of 580.56 kcal/100 g indicating it as a good source of
energy. The TA kernel showed high mineral content, specifically Na, K, Ca, Fe, Zn and
Mg contents were 72.5, 123.25, 643.5, 32.25, 11.45 and 46.25 mg/100 g respectively. The
high K, Ca and Fe content with low Na content was a good indication in terms of human
nutrition. Moreover, TA nut showed antioxidant activity with an IC50 of 53.77±3.44
mg/ml for DPPH, 7.68±1.23 mg/ml for ABTS and reducing power of 230.57±9.65 mM
Trolox eq/100 g in FRAP assays. Hence, TA nut could be recommended as an excellent
source of protein, micronutrients and energy along with high antioxidant capacities
which is beneficial to improve the nutritional status of the Sri Lankans with value
addition.
