Abstract:
It has been suggested that the hypocholesterolaemic effect of palmyrah fruit
pulp (PFP) is brought about by the soluble dietary fibre which is dominated by
pectin, However, this has not been conclusively proven. The present publication
describes studies to determine if pinnatu (dried PFP, fruit leather) could possess
any hypocholesterolaemic activity.
Neither pinnatu (prepared by drying PFP in layers as in the conventional
method) nor pectin extracted from pinnatu (incorporated at a double dose to
above experiment) could indicate any hypocholesterolaemic effect on normal
Wistar rats. Pinnatu pectin on separation on Sepharose gel chromatography
showed a high elution volume pattern indicating the hydrolysis of pectin while
processing. Further it was found that pinnatu contains exopectinase activity.
Subsequently, pinnatu was prepared using a modified method in order to
minimize the hydrolysis of high molecular weight pectin. The Sepharose gel
chromatography pattern of the isolated pectin of the modified pinnatu showed
no degradation of pectin. However, after storing (6-7 months), this pinnatu
pectin showed a slight shift to the lower elution volume indicating slight
hydrolysis. On feeding Wi star rats with this pinnatu showed no
hypocholesterolaemic effect (p=O.85). It is concluded that the preparation and
storage of pinnatu destroys the hypocholesterolaemic effect of PFP. High
molecular weight pectin may not be the major factor: for the
hypocholesteroJaemic effect ofPFP. It is also possible that storage of pinnatu
causes not only chemical but also physical changes in pectin.
