Effect of Using Thyme, Carrot and Hibiscus to Some Crackers Products on their Nutritional and the Rapeutical Value

Abstract

ABESTRACT The main objective of the present study was carried to evaluate the possibility of enhancing antioxidant activities by using 10% of thyme, carrot and hibiscus powder fortified to crackers as natural colored antioxidants to produce healthy crackers, chemical composition and rheological properties were carried out, determination of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity% noticed that thyme powder had the highest level of total phenols (12366 mg/100g), followed by carrot powder which was (5087.4 mg/100gm) and hibiscus had (4262.9 mg/100g), while antioxidant activity were 96.7% for thyme, 89.59% for carrot and 86.17% for hibiscus. Also, this work aimed to study the anti-hyperlipidemic activities of crackers with 100% wheat flour and crackers fortified with natural additives (thyme, carrot and hibiscus powder) on rats. The experiment was performed in 36 male rats distributed into 6 equal groups. Group (1) was kept as a normal control (fed on a basal diet), while rats of the other five groups were fed on hypercholesterolemic diet for 8 weeks to induce hypercholesterolemia. Rats of group (2) were left as a positive control and those of groups (3, 4, 5 and 6) were given unfortified cracker 100% wheat flour (CWF), 10% thyme(Cth) , 10% carrot (CCa) and 10% hibiscus (Chi). The results revealed that rats consumed crackers fortified with natural additives decreases adiposity index, body mass index, Serum Cholesterol, Triglycerides (TG), Low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and Very low density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-C), while there was an increase in serum HDL-C. Also showed decreases in serum ALT, AST, AP, Uric acid, Urea and Creatinine levels. The best results showed in thyme crackers then carrot followed by hibiscus for the treatment of hypercholesterolemic.