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Lowering cholesterol using banana skins
(AFP/Carl Court)A research team from Brawijaya University in Malang, East Java, has found that banana skins contain pectin, a substance effective in lowering cholesterol levels in blood
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(AFP/Carl Court)
A research team from Brawijaya University in Malang, East Java, has found that banana skins contain pectin, a substance effective in lowering cholesterol levels in blood.
The team from the university's agriculture technology school comprises Lukman Azis, Nisa Alfila Sari and Clara Artha.
In their research, the team extracted the pectin from banana skins.
'Pectin used in the food industry mostly comes from relatively expensive fruit like apples and oranges, while this banana-skin pectin is cheaper as it's derived from waste,' said Lukman, head of the student research group.
The banana-produced pectin is blended with marshmallows or soft candies for easy consumption.
According to Lukman, the research under the guidance of their lecturer, Nur Ida Panca, has shown that consuming pectin for two weeks can reduce cholesterol by as much as 52 percent.
World Health Organization data that shows high-cholesterol induced coronary heart disease is one of the world's major killers motivated the research, along with the large quantities of the fruit being traded in Malang.
Lukman said Indonesia was one of the largest banana producers in the world and top of the list in Asia, with locally produced banana products common throughout various regions in the country, while banana skins as waste have not yet been fully exploited.
The huge quantities of bananas being consumed or processed produce vast amounts of banana skins, which have mostly been used to feed cattle.
Since February 2014 Lukman and his peers have been hunting banana skins as far as the industrial area of Batu, 30 kilometers from their campus.
(JP/Nedi Putra AW)
They later extract pectin from the banana skins and merge it into soft candies.
The process begins with steaming chipped skins for 10 minutes. The chips are then dried at a temperature of 55 degrees Celsius and are then ground into powder.
The dried skin powder is later subjected to extraction at 90 degrees Celsius using an acid solvent to separate the pectin, which is further dried for 24 hours. The whole process takes a month.
'Pectin has an elastic quality so we chose to soak it into marshmallows, also for the purpose of giving the impression that even a drug can taste good and be attractive,' explained Nur Ida Panca.
The testing of pectin-bearing marshmallows on mice fed a high-fat diet has indicated that the candies have the effect of lowering the cholesterol level of the rodents.
'Pectin binds fat being consumed, which is later excreted,' Lukman pointed out.
He disclosed that the final product categorized as a drug has not yet been tested on humans.
Nur Ida expressed the hope that research under the Student Creativity Program of the Directorate General of Higher Education could be carried out to develop the product for its preventive and curative properties in clinical testing on humans.
Nonetheless, Lukman is convinced of its safety for human consumption due to the natural material used and the absence of artificial chemicals in the process.
For a sweet taste, low-calorie sugar is added along with a natural coloring from dragon fruit to enhance the appearance of the marshmallows.
The pectin extracted from banana skins, he said, was cheaper than commercial pectin produced industrially.
While commercial pectin costs Rp 1 million (US$83.60) per gram on the market, the banana skin extract is priced at only Rp 12,000
per g.
Banana waste weighing 3.5kg produces around 500 g of skin powder,producing 4-5g of pectin per 25g.
'The use of drugs with synthetic materials will affect physical health over a long term and tends to be expensive so our product can be a cheaper alternative,' he said.
Based on production and other costs,his team put the price of the marshmallows at Rp40,000 per 250g.
'The pectin candies should later be seen as a supplement to promote better health and lifestyle,' Lukman says.
