Natural Antioxidant and Phenolic Content Evaluation of Sweet Dairy Product (Sandesh) with Incorporation of Beetroot and Rosemary Extract
Nikita Sharma
*
Department of Dairy Science and Food Technology, Banaras Hindu University, Uttar Pradesh 221002, India.
Ankit Kumar Deshmukh
ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, Haryana 132001, India.
Anubhuti Dwivedi
Department of Food Science Technology and Nutrition, Sambalpur University, Odisha 768019, India.
Chandrahas Sahu
College of Dairy Science and Food Technology, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India.
Ankur Trivedi
Department of Dairy Technology College of Post-Harvest Technology and Food Processing, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Modipuram, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh 250110, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Sandesh is a traditional heat- and acid-coagulated sweet dairy product prepared from chhana and widely consumed in India. This study evaluated the radical scavenging activity and total phenolic content of Sandesh incorporated with beetroot and rosemary extracts, either individually or in combination. Ethanolic extracts of beetroot and rosemary were prepared and incorporated into Sandesh at concentrations of 1%, 2% and 3%, alongside a control sample without extract. Antioxidant potential was assessed using the DPPH radical scavenging assay, while total phenolic content was determined using the Folin-Ciocalteu method and expressed as gallic acid equivalents. The radical scavenging activity of beetroot and rosemary extracts was 88.654% and 98.402%, respectively. In fresh Sandesh, radical scavenging activity increased with extract incorporation and ranged from 22.42 ± 0.12% in the control to 88.81 ± 0.13% in the sample containing 3% beetroot and 3% rosemary extract. During storage, radical scavenging activity gradually decreased across the fortified samples. Total phenolic content was higher in fortified Sandesh than in the control. The control contained 1.06 ± 0.12 mg GAE/g, whereas fortified samples ranged from 2.43 ± 0.11 to 7.98 ± 0.013 mg GAE/g. The highest phenolic content was recorded in Sandesh containing the combined 3% beetroot and 3% rosemary extracts. These findings indicate that beetroot and rosemary extracts can improve the antioxidant and phenolic profile of Sandesh.
Keywords: Natural antioxidants, total phenolic content, chhana, DPPH assay, beetroot extract, rosemary extract, radical scavenging activity, herbal Sandesh, dairy dessert, functional food.