Fortification of sunflower and palm oils using beta carotene extracted from asystasia mysorensis and solanum nigrum

Abstract

In Kenya, indigenous vegetables such as Solanum nigrum (S. nigrum) and Asystasia mysorensis (A. mysorensis) are locally available but grossly underutilized. While the vegetables are a rich source of beta carotene (BC), a provitamin A carotenoid essential for mitigating vitamin A deficiency, they are highly perishable. Extractable BC quickly degrades in the presence of oxygen, light, and heat and therefore cannot be stored by itself. To address this antagonism, BC was extracted from S. nigrum and A. mysorensis and fortified in edible oils, sunflower and palm oils for 180 days. The peroxide and acid values of the oils were titrimetrically determined while RP-HPLC was employed for BC analysis. Peroxide values increased significantly (p˂0.001) by 74.05% and 20%, while acid values increase by 88.23% and 345% in sunflower and palm oils respectively over a 1 month period. Although the mean levels of BC reduced significantly (p˂0.001) by over 65% for the entire storage period, the levels of BC remaining were within the recommended daily allowance (RDA), implying that BC can be fortified in sunflower and palm oils to address the antagonism of its storage and degradation.