Extraction Of Dietary Fibers From Nodes Of Lotus Root And Its Effect On Body Weight

The lotus root(Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn)is an aquatic plant belongs to the family Nelumbonaceaeand genus Nelumbo. It has been cultivated for more than 3000 years in China, and also cultivated and consumed widely all over the world. The nodes of lotus root as rich in dietary fiber while during the processing of lotus root it is discarded as waster material. Thus we used the nodes of lots rhizome as experimental material in this study. After cleaning and drying of node of lotus root we used the ultra grinding technique to obtain the lotus node powder. This dried powder was then used to extract the three kinds of dietary fiber TDF, IDF and SDT(total, insoluble and soluble dietary fiber respectively) by means of a modified method of acid and enzymatic extraction. We conducted animal study(mice model) to evaluatethe potential effects of these dietary fibers on prevention of obesity and weight control. The main outcomes of the study are as follows:1. Comparison of direct drying and drying after inactivation of enzymes of nodes of lotus to evaluate its effects of content of dietary fiber and its physicochemical properties. The results revealed that direct drying method was better than drying after inactivation of enzyme except for powder color.2. Compared the different ball milling treatments such as grinding time, speed and balls to material ratio to evaluate its effects of oil hold capacity, water holding capacity, swelling capacity and content of dietary fiber. The results showed that the optimum conditions for the micronization/ultrafine grinding; grinding time was 12 h, speed was 300 rpm and medium(balls) to material ratio was 8:1g/g. Under these conditions the particle size of dietary fiber powder was reduced to 15.3μm, oil holding capacity, water holding capacity and swelling were: 2.23g/g, 3.62g/g and 5.97 m L/g respectively. TDF, IDF and SDF contents were 40.66%, 29.17%, 10.16%respectively. With an acid method, an acidenzymatic method and an ultrasonic-assisted alkaline enzyme method extracted dietary fiber from nodes of lotus root, compared dietary fiber extraction rate and purity, the results show: acid enzymatic extraction had good extraction rate and purity. Using this method TDF, IDF, SDF extraction rates were 53.00%, 38.94%, 10.82% with purity of68.48%, 76.62%, 63.90% respectively.3. Studied the effects of dietary fibers(TDF, IDF and SDF) in prevention of obesity in high fat induced mice model. There mice were orally administered with different concentrations of TDF, IDF and SDF. Based on body weight, blood lipid profile and other indicators of pathological analysis, comprehensive evaluation of TDF, IDF, SDF were conducted for its effects in prevention of obesity. The results show: TDF and SDF significantly(P<0.05) slow the trend of weight gain in mice. TDF was the best in regulation of blood lipids, and reduce the chance of atherosclerosis. TDF, IDF, SDF significantly increase fecal cholesterol excretion although the SDF showed best results for fecal cholesterol excretion. SDF and TDF reduced the chances of liver cell hypertrophy, adipose tissue while preventing the increase in cell volume. If summarize all the results for the prevention of obesity in mice the TDF is more effective with optimum effects.4. Compared the TDF, IDF and SDFobtained from nodes of lotus root for its effectiveness in weight lose in obese mice. After the successful establishment of obese mice model orally administration of TDF, IDF, SDF and a dietary functional food obtained from By Health Company. The results showed that TDF and SDF delayed weight gain trend in mice, significantly reduce the nutritional obesity of mice and degree of obesity(P<0.05), no significant differences was observed for the functional food obtained from By Health Company. TDF, IDF and SDF control mice body fat mass, although the fat accumulation in mice for TDF and SDF groups was found most significant. SDF significantly reduced LDL-C content, improved HDL-C content, with the best regulation of blood lipids, and reduced the chance of atherosclerosis, and the effect is better than functional food capsule. SDF also inhibited liver cell hypertrophy against damage and cell volume of adipose tissue increases. If summarize all the results for the prevention of weight gain and serum lipid profile in mice the SDF is more effective with optimum effects as compared with TDF, IDF and functional food capsules.