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The research compared antidiabetic activity of snake fruit Kombucha, black tea Kombucha and metformin in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Snake fruit Kombucha, black tea Kombucha and metformin were orally administered to the diabetic rats daily during a 28-day experiment. Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) levels, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities, malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and lipid profiles (total triglyceride, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol) of the blood plasma were investigated. Pancreas immunohistochemical study and β-cells quantification were also conducted. The products significantly (p < 0.05) reduced fasting plasma glucose levels (67-76%) and improved oxidative stress indices and lipid profiles. From immunohistochemical staining of pancreatic tissues, pancreatic β-cells were also improved in the diabetic rats by the products. The snake fruit Kombucha compared with the metformin but better than the black tea Kombucha as a diabetes therapy agent.

The addition of prebiotic in food today is mostly done. It is based on the ability of prebiotic to support the growth of probiotic. Inulin is a carbohydrate that serves as an effective prebiotic that cannot be digested by digestive enzymes. The purpose of this research is to assess utilization of inulin from several types of tubers include dahlia tubers, yam tubers, and gembili tubers as a source of prebiotic that tested in probiotic bacteria (L. casei and L. plantarum). The study used a Randomized Block Design method with two factors, the type of probiotic isolate and inulin extract from tubers. The result shows that the best treatment is isolates of L. casei obtained in the fermentation medium with the addition of inulin from gembili tubers. The best treatment has the following characteristics: an increase in total LAB 2.71 × 10 10 cfu/ml, 1.50% total acid, pH 2.05 and the total sugars are 3.11%. Whereas in isolates of L. plantarum, the best treatment in the fermentation medium is with the addition of inulin from dahlia tubers. The LAB reaches 2.80 × 10 10 cfu/ml, 1.29% total acid, pH 2.24 and 2.05% total sugars.

The growth and pigment production of Monascus purpureus during 14 days solid state fermentation on different cereal substrates i.e. rice, corn, whole sorghum grain (WSG), dehulled sorghum grain (DSG) and sorghum bran (SB); and pigment composition of the fermented-products have been evaluated. Fungal biomass was used as a basis of its growth. Pigment content was measured by using spectrophotometer and thin-layer chromatography, and its composition was analyzed by using liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. M. purpureus grew faster on rice substrate than did on other substrates. Production of pigments was observed at the end of logarithmic phase on all substrates tested. Similar pigment compounds were found on all substrates and the highest production of pigments was on rice, followed by DSG 4WSG4Corn 4SB. Twelve pigments, six of which were well-known, were detected on the Monascus-fermented products at different levels. Among those, Monapilol B, found in Monascus-fermented dioscorea, was found. On all cases, the red pigment Rubropunctamine was the major one (57-87%), except on SB substrate which produced Yellow II as the major one. Interestingly, fermented-DSG contained a large amount of Rubropunctatin compared to other fermented products. Among the non-rice substrates, DSG is the most potential substrate, on which the fungus exhibited the highest growth and pigment production. These data suggest that the fermented products are good candidates for development of natural food colorant, food supplement, functional food and or medicine with antiinflammation, anticancer and antimicrobial activities.

This research studied the characteristics of Palm Fatty Acids Distillates (PFADs) from several palm oil refineries. It was aimed to know the potency of PFAD as bioactive compounds source, including vitamin E (mainly tocotrienols), phytosterols, squalene and possibly co-enzyme Q10 and polycosanol. Sampling was conducted at 6 palm oil refineries. The results showed that PFAD was dominated by free fatty acids of 85-95% with low oxidation level indicated by peroxide value of 1-10 meq/kg and anisidin value of 6-31. Bioactive compounds found were vitamin E 60-200 ppm, phytosterols 400-7500 ppm and squalene 400-2800 ppm, meanwhile polycosanol and coenzyme Q10 were not found. Vitamin E was dominated by tocotrienols and γ tocotrienol was the major vitamin E, followed by α and δ tocotrienols. Phytosterols in PFADs from several palm oil refineries had variety in quantity and composition. Generally it was dominated by β sitosterol, followed by stigmasterol and campesterol