Document Type

Article

Rights

This item is available under a Creative Commons License for non-commercial use only

Disciplines

1.6 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

Publication Details

Journal of Food Processing and Preservation ISSN 1745-4549 (2011)

Abstract

Seaweed iswell recognized as an excellent source of phytochemicals. This study was a preliminary screening to investigate the effects of various food processing methods on the phytochemicals of Himanthalia elongata. Hydrothermal processing was carried out until an edible texture was achieved. The total phenolic content (TPC) of fresh H. elongata was 175.27 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/100 g fresh weight (FW) while boiling significantly reduced the TPC to 25.4 mg GAE/100 g FW
(P < 0.05).A drying pretreatment before boiling reduced the cooking time therefore leading to less leaching of antioxidants upon boiling. In terms of extract, drying of H. elongata followed by boiling had the most significant effect on the phytochemicals as TPC increased by 174%. Boiled extracts had the most effective 2, 2-diphenyl- 1-picrylhydrazyl scavenging activity (EC50 of 12.5 mg/mL). As a comparison, seaweed subjected to the same treatments was studied in terms of antimicrobial activity.Overall, extracts fromfresh H. elongata achieved the highest inhibition.