Adding sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) dan moringa (Moringa oleifera) leaf powder into tapioca noodle formulation was expected to improve health functional properties. This study evaluated the total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant activity in each step of noodle processing (including mixing, steaming, sheeting-slitting, and oven drying) and boiling. Noodle formulation was tapioca and sorghum flours (80:20) with a 5% moringa leaf powder addition. The TPC and antioxidant activity were analyzed using Folin Ciocalteu and DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) assays. The concentration of DPPH solution used in this study was 0.1 M. The TPC and antioxidant stability was significantly affected during processing and boiling. The TPC retention was highest in sample taken from sheeting-slitting step (0,27±0,001 mg GAE/g), while the antioxidant activity was found to be highest in the samples taken from oven drying (90.29±0.158 %). This result indicated that the heat involved expressed positive influences, except for the boiling effect in TPC. Heat treatment was proposed to release antioxidant compounds from food matrices, but the presence of water as a boiling medium may lead to phenolic leaching. Other bioactive compounds might also play a role in antioxidant activity due to a very weak correlation between TPC and antioxidant activity. High ability in DPPH reduction made the noodle could be proposed as a potential source of antioxidants.

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) and moringa (Moringa oleifera) could be utilized to develop an innovative and functional food product, especially for stunting prevention, due to their nutritional content. In this study, those commodities were incorporated into tapioca noodle formulation, with the ratio of sorghum and tapioca flours was 20:80 and 5% moringa leaf flour. This formula resulted in 4.12% protein, 1.15% fat, 81.75% carbohydrate, and 5.88% dietary fiber and provided 353.77 kcal energy per 100g product. This made our product could be considered low-fat and a source of dietary fiber. Magnesium (42.89 mg/ 100 g), phosphorus (68.18 mg/100 g), zinc (0.58 mg/100 g), and iron (4.21 mg/100 g) were minerals presented in the product, while no vitamin A and D were detected. The complete essential amino acids were also found in this product, with 5.5; 26.4; and 32.7 mg/100 g of omega-3, -6, and -9 fatty acids, respectively. This result indicated the potency of health-promoting effects in stunted children. However, future research should emphasize increasing the protein content of sorghum-moringa substituted tapioca noodles.