Evaluation of Antioxidant Properties of Corn Sticks Made from Polyphenol-Enriched Corn Flour.

This study evaluated the antioxidant properties of ginger plant, corn flour and corn stick snacks enriched with ginger (Zingiber officinale) plant extract. The research was aimed to enhance the nutritional and functional value of conventional snacks by incorporating ginger and to enhance consumer acceptability of the functional snack products through sensory evaluation. The experimental design involved the preparation of corn snacks with varying concentrations of ginger enrichment-low (2.5g), medium (5g) and high (10g) alongside a control (plain corn flour). Samples were analyzed before and after preparation to determine their antioxidant activity using the Total Phenolic Content (TPC), Ferric Reducing Power assay and DPPH radical scavenging assay and also Sensory Evaluation of the corn sticks. The results revealed that the ginger plant exhibited a strong antioxidant activity with an Inhibitory Concentration( IC50) value of 8.74μg/ml. Plain corn flour had a weaker antioxidant activity with IC50 of 14.13μg/ml. However, after preparation the antioxidant activity increased in all samples with IC50 values decreasing from (11.84μg/ml) to (9.43μg/ml) highlighting the impact of thermal processing on polyphenol compounds. Similar trend followed for the Ferric Reducing Power assay and for the Total Phenolic Content in which ginger has the highest phenolic content followed by high concentration of corn sticks snacks. The medium concentration of polyphenol enrichment provided the best sensory attribute highlighting the beneficial roles of polyphenols in improving food quality. In addition, there is a strong correlation between Total Phenolic Contents and Antioxidant Activity. In conclusion, ginger enrichment effectively improved the Total Phenolic Content, Sensory properties, Functional food value and Antioxidant activity of the corn stick snacks. It is recommended that further studies be made into investigating metabolic effects of functional enriched snacks.