Phytochemical analysis

Quinoa and Chia are pseudo cereals, fast emerging as ’nutraceuticals’. They are widely known as “super foods” for their high nutritional content. Many developing countries face challenges of malnutrition, undernourishment and micronutrient deficiencies .In addition, many people are allergic to wheat and wheat-based products. To address these nutritional problems in consideration, while improving the physical well-being of consumers and promoting a healthy society an effort was made to develop value added products. In the present study, the proximate and phytochemical analyses were carried out followed by formulation of nutritious sweet and salty cookies with mixtures of Quinoa and Chia. These were compared with similar wheat-based products available in market. Cost constraints may lower acceptability among all strata. Therefore, production of these pseudo cereals in our country on a large scale will benefit farmers too.

Aloe vera L. is well known succulent plant speciesfor its marvellous medicinal properties and more than 75 active medicinal components have been identified till date. It possesses synergistic action in alleviating many diseased conditions such as stomach ailments, gastrointestinal problems, skin diseases, diabetes and oxidative stress-related diseases. Therefore, the present research aimed to evaluate the phytochemical constituents, Thin-layer chromatography (TLC), total phenolic&flavonoid contents, and antioxidant activity of aqueous and methanolic extracts of A.vera. The powdered plant material was used for the aqueous and methanolic extraction. Boththe extracts were screened for the presence of various phytochemical compounds. Most of the phyto constituents were present in both the extracts. Five and four different bioactive components having different Rf values were observed in methanolic and aqueous extracts respectively. Flavonoid and phenolic content does not vary significantly in the methanolic and aqueous extracts. Further, comparable dose-dependent antioxidant activity was observed in both the extracts. So, the present investigation suggests that aqueous and methanolic extract has significant antioxidant activity and may be utilized as a potential source of the therapeutic agent against many diseases.