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Abstract
ß-carotene, a type of provitamin A, is beneficial to our health. However, the compound needs to be released from its food matrix before being utilised by the body. Thus, understanding the bioaccessibility of ß-carotene in the food consumed is a crucial step. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of various cooking methods on bioaccessibility of ß-carotene in pumpkin and butternut squash. In vitro digestion was carried out on raw and cooked (steamed, boiled, and deep-fried) pumpkin and butternut squash. ß-carotene was identified using RPHPLC. Generally, butternut squash (4.99±0.02mg/100g) had higher ß-carotene content than pumpkin (4.34±0.04mg/100g). Thermal processing resulted in lower ß-carotene content in pumpkin samples; however, it increased the ß-carotene content in butternut squash samples. In term of bioaccessibility, thermal processes increased the percentage of bioaccessible ß-carotene in both pumpkin and butternut squash samples. Raw pumpkin had 10.56±0.44% of bioaccessible ß-carotene while raw butternut squash had only 1.65±0.04%. Bioaccessibility of ß-carotene in deep-fried pumpkin and butternut squash were significantly higher than their raw sample with 68.86±0.86% (p<0.001) and 22.32±2.12% (p<0.05) of bioaccessible ß-carotene respectively. The deep-frying method was found to enhance the bioaccessibility of ß-carotene significantly in both of these samples but not boiling and steaming methods.
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Keywords
In vitro bioaccessibility
ß-carotene
Pumpkin
Butternut squash
Cooking methods
Article history
Received: 9 December 2016
Received in revised form: 21 December 2016
Accepted: 21 December 2016
Introduction
Pumpkin (Figure 1) is a cultivar of squash plant and from the family of Cucurbitaceae, genus of Cucurbita. The commonly consumed pumpkin species in Malaysia is Cucurbita moschata (Zuhanis, 2014). There is 3100 pg of ß-carotene found in every 100g of pumpkin according to United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) (2015a). Butternut squash (Cucurbita moschata Duchesne) (Figure 2) is in the same family and genus as pumpkin with higher ß-carotene content, 4226pg in every 100g (USDA, 2015b). It also has yellow and orange coloured peel and pulp and tastes sweet and nutty which is similar with pumpkin. However, it is in the shape of a pear which differentiates butternut squash from the pumpkin.
Pumpkin and butternut squash are good sources of ß-carotene for human consumption. Although studies found that pumpkin and butternut squash have a high level of ß-carotene concentration,...