Comparative Analysis of Nutrients Content, in Vitro Antioxidant Potentials and Sensory Evaluation of Peeled and Unpeeled Banana (musa Acuminata)

ABSTRACT Banana are a widely consumed fruit known for their nutritional benefits and convenience. The nutritional content of peeled banana are often perceived as more convenient for immediate consumption, but they undergo some nutritional loss due to exposure to air and light. While unpeeled banana retains their protective peel, which helps preserve their nutritional value, including the Vitamins, Fiber and Antioxidants. In this report, the in vitro antioxidant potentials, Nutrients content and sensory evaluation of peeled and unpeeled banana were determined, as well as comparism between the two. The proximate analysis of peeled and unpeeled bananas were found by AOAC (1995) Method, and it was found to be higher in unpeeled banana than the peeled one, except for moisture content which is slightly higher in peeled than the unpeeled banana (68.93±0.385) and (64.430±0.025) respectively, the mineral measurement were determined by Rutkwoski method and the difference between the two is not significant, Vitamin A and C were determined using Rutkowski method, and the unpeeled banana shows to have a higher Vitamin A and Vitamin C content than the peeled banana, Vitamin C (11.7±0.141) for peeled and (12.7±0.149) for unpeeled, while the Vitamin A (12.40±0.020) for peeled and (13.65±0.078) for unpeeled, the in vitro antioxidants potentials were determined using DPPH method, the unpeeled banana is higher in antioxidant potential (32.739±2.125 at concentration of 1000 and 29.221±4.860 at concentration of 7.8125) than peeled banana (28.680±0.386 at concentration of 1000 and 23.106±1.441 at concentration of 7.8125), the sensory evaluation using hedonic scale,the peeled bananas were rated not significantly difference (p