Effect of inulin addition in cucumber drinks on urease inhibitory, antioxidant activity and its consumer acceptability

Abstract

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) juice is the best rejuvenation tonic used in the folk medicine. However, during juicing, all the fibre content of the juice will be removed. Addition of inulin to the juice not only help to replace the fibre content but it also acts as prebiotic which may help to stimulate the growth of beneficial bacteria in guts. Therefore, this study focused on the effect of inulin addition in the cucumber drink on urease inhibitory and antioxidant activities, as well as on consumer acceptability. Cucumber drink was prepared using a domestic juicer and the different amounts of inulin added to the drink were based on the nutritional conditions for dietary fibre claims of a food product as a ‘source of fibre’ and ‘high fibre’ (i.e. 3 g/100 mL and 6 g/100 mL, respectively). Urease inhibitory activity was determined using phenol-hypochlorite reaction and antioxidant activity was determined using DPPH radical scavenging assay. The results show that non-fortified cucumber juice (100% without inulin) had the highest urease inhibitory and DPPH radical scavenging activities (95.1% and 38.3%, respectively). The results show that the addition of inulin to the cucumber drink does not have any impact on the urease inhibitory and DPPH radical scavenging activities. On the other hand, consumer acceptance test shows that cucumber drinks fortified with 6 g of inulin were more acceptable to the consumer based on consumers’ 9-point hedonic scale distribution.