Amino Acid Profile and Vitamin C Content of Selected Condiments Used as Thickeners in Soup Preparation

Aim: This study aimed to analyze the amino acid profile and determine the vitamin C content of the condiments named Detarium microcarpum (DM), Cissus populnea (CP), Grewia mollis (GW) and Parkia biglobosa (PB).

Study Design: The condiments obtained from Gwagwa market, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja were used for this study to analyze and determine the amino acid profile and vitamin C content.

Place and Duration of the Study: The study was conducted in Abuja, Nigeria at the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Quality Control, National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development [NIPRD], from February 2020 to September 2020.

Methodology: The amino acid profile of the condiments was analyzed using methods described by (Maria et al., 2004). The samples were dried to constant weight, defatted, hydrolyzed, evaporated in a rotary evaporator and loaded into the Applied Biosystems PTH Amino Acid Analyzer while the Ascorbic acid content of the condiments was determined by titration method.

Result: The result indicated that non- essential amino acids are higher in concentration in all the samples (PB - 33.77, DM - 27.51, GM - 18.21 and CO - 25.86) compared to the essential amino acids (PB -27.16, DM - 19.46, GM - 1 6.47 and CO - 22.38) and semi-essential amino acid (PB - 22.22, DM - 16.59, GM - 9.64, CO - 14.01). Among the essential amino acids, leucine is the predominant acid, while glutamic, aspartic acids were found to be the major non-essential amino acids in the samples. High concentrations of aspartic acid, glutamic acid valine, alanine and leucine predominate in all the samples analyzed. The sample Parkia biglobosa has the highest concentration of vitamin C with 0.3 mg/L followed by Detarium Microcarpum 0.18 mg/L, Grewia Mollis 0.12 mg/L and Cissus populnea 0.11 mg/L.

Conclusion: Results indicate that these condiments contained amino acids in appropriate quantities that can serve as supplementary potential sources of essential amino acids to man and appreciable amount of vitamin C.