Chemical Composition and Invitro Antioxidant Investigation of Garcinia Kola (Bitter Kola) Pulp
Oluwaniyi Temitope Ojo* and Ibiyinka Ogunlade
ABSTRACT
The use of fruits in providing nutritional values for proper growth and total development of humans cannot be over emphasised. One of such is Garcinia kola seed, reported to have tremedous medicinal values, thereby addressing good health and wellbeing (Target 3) of Sustainable Development Goals. However, the pericap and mesocap are discarded as pollutants to the environment. This project was aimed at evaluation of Garcinia kola pulp (biowaste), for proximate, minerals compositions, antioxidant activity and total phenolic content, using standard analytical methods. The results showed percentage proximate composition as: Moisture (6.060.08), crude protein (10.8020.28), fat (1.2910.01), ash(2.53÷0.04), crude fibre (5.11÷0.01) and carbohydrate (73.85 $0.25). The calculated fatty acid and metabolizable energy were found to be 1.03%, 1486.70KJ/Mol respectively. Minerals in (ppm) of the Garcinia kola pulp were Ca (416.50), K (118.50), Na (8.20), Mg(12.60), and P(339.00), Fe, Cu, Zn and Mn were found to be significantly low. Na-K ratio was found to be less than 1 suggesting that Garcinia kola pulp can be utilized to reduce the risk of obesity and hypentension while Ca-P ratio greater than 1 meaning, it can be used for food formulation to reduce risk of central obesity. Antioxidant activity for the Garcinia kola pulp was found to be low (0.03%) while the total phenolic content is significantly high (33.1 1mgGAE/g). This indicates that Garcinia kola pulp regarded as agricultural waste can be utilized as a veritable source of energy. It can also serve as source of protein supplement for animal feeds, essential minerals, especially Ca for bone formation in livestock.
