IPB Students Formulate Antioxidant-Rich Snackbar
Degenerative diseases have become a public health problem globally, especially in Indonesia. This is caused by unhealthy eating habits, such as high sugar, salt, saturated fat, and others. Seeing this problem, Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) students develop snack bars that can reduce the risk of degenerative diseases.
The three students were Sidik Reza Permono and Radhitya Bayu Alafima from the Department of Food Science and Technology of IPB, and Intan Nur Fitriyana from the Department of Community Nutrition of IPB. They were one of the finalists of the 2018 Student Creativity Program (PKM) guided by Dr. Ir. Titi Candra Sunarti.
Intan explained that the sorghum bar snack idea emerged from their concerns from the habits of young people today who like to snacking unhealthy food.
"Today there are many people who like snacking, but many snacks that are high in fat and sugar are one of the risk factors for degenerative diseases (diabetes mellitus, cancer, heart disease, hypertension, etc.). We want to try to develop a sorghum snack bar and decaffeinated green tea that is filling and rich in antioxidant content, "Intan explained
Sorghum bar snack as a local food is a food source of antioxidants with phenolic components that can be useful as a therapy for diabetes mellitus and high in fiber. In addition the addition of decaffeinated green tea (eliminating caffeine tea compounds) also contains natural antioxidant active substances in the form of polyphenols which function as antidotes to free radicals.
"We have found that the sorghum snack bar that the panelists like contains 0.5 grams of green tea that has de-caffeinated and contains active anticocidants, 10 grams of sorghum, egg white as a 10 gram adhesive, natural honey and sugar specifically diabetes mellitus as a sweetener that does not increase blood glucose, dates, and roasted peanuts, "Intan explained.
Intan hopes that this sorghum snack bar formulation can be implemented in the food industry. "So far the formulation of sorghum snack bar that we have made is quite attractive to panelists. When compared to the snack bars on the market, this sorghum bar snack has less energy and fat, the same protein content, higher fiber, and high antioxidant content as well. "The hope is that it can be applied on an industrial scale to be mass-produced, but it is rather difficult for the green tea to decaffeinate," hoped Intan. (Flw)
