TY - JOUR
T1 - Nutritional quality and physico-chemical characteristics of selected date fruit varieties of the United Arab Emirates
AU - Rambabu, Krishnamoorthy
AU - Bharath, Govindan
AU - Hai, Abdul
AU - Banat, Fawzi
AU - Hasan, Shadi W.
AU - Taher, Hanifa
AU - Zaid, Hayyiratul Fatimah Mohd
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: The authors would like to thank Khalifa University of Science and Technology (KUST) for providing the primary financial support for this work under CIRA-2019-028 project. The authors also acknowledge the funding support from Yayasan Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS under grant number YUTP 015LC0-047.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors.
PY - 2020/3/1
Y1 - 2020/3/1
N2 - Production of highly soluble date sugar powder from the nutritive date fruits will be a suitable and superior alternative to commercial refined sugar, providing sustainability in date palm cultivation. A good understanding of the nutritional and phytochemical composition of date fruits is imperative for this purpose. In this work, 11 different date fruit species commonly cultivated in the United Arab Emirates were studied for their chemical composition, physical properties, amino acids, minerals, and anti-nutritional contents. The results revealed that the date fruits contain moisture, protein, lipid, and ash content in the ranges of 14.8%-20.5%, 2.19%-3.12%, 0.25%-0.51%, and 1.37%-1.97%, respectively. Potassium was identified as the major microelement in all the date varieties. Amino acid assay depicted that the date fruits mainly contained glutamine and aspartic acids, along with other essential acids. Monosaccharides (glucose and fructose) were more prevalent in the date fruits than polysaccharides (sucrose), exhibiting the potential of date fruit for non-diabetic sugar production. Phytoconstituents present in date samples, such as flavonoids, oxalates, tannins, saponins, alkaloids, and cyanides, were also evaluated and reported. Results showed that although all date fruit varieties were nutritious, they contain significant variation in their nutritional, physical, elemental, and phytochemical properties.
AB - Production of highly soluble date sugar powder from the nutritive date fruits will be a suitable and superior alternative to commercial refined sugar, providing sustainability in date palm cultivation. A good understanding of the nutritional and phytochemical composition of date fruits is imperative for this purpose. In this work, 11 different date fruit species commonly cultivated in the United Arab Emirates were studied for their chemical composition, physical properties, amino acids, minerals, and anti-nutritional contents. The results revealed that the date fruits contain moisture, protein, lipid, and ash content in the ranges of 14.8%-20.5%, 2.19%-3.12%, 0.25%-0.51%, and 1.37%-1.97%, respectively. Potassium was identified as the major microelement in all the date varieties. Amino acid assay depicted that the date fruits mainly contained glutamine and aspartic acids, along with other essential acids. Monosaccharides (glucose and fructose) were more prevalent in the date fruits than polysaccharides (sucrose), exhibiting the potential of date fruit for non-diabetic sugar production. Phytoconstituents present in date samples, such as flavonoids, oxalates, tannins, saponins, alkaloids, and cyanides, were also evaluated and reported. Results showed that although all date fruit varieties were nutritious, they contain significant variation in their nutritional, physical, elemental, and phytochemical properties.
KW - Amino acids
KW - Biomaterials
KW - Date fruits
KW - Date sugar
KW - Physico-chemical characteristics
KW - Phytoconstituents
KW - Proximate analysis
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85081984754&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/pr8030256
DO - 10.3390/pr8030256
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85081984754
SN - 2227-9717
VL - 8
JO - Processes
JF - Processes
IS - 3
M1 - 256
ER -