Innovative Nutri Blended Herbalfruit Tea: A New Development

By: Dr. Y. Prabhabati Devi
Herbal fruit tea is fruit based healthy drink prepared from locally available fruits of North East region of India. It is very rich in natural bioactive compounds such as polyphenols, flavonoids, anthocyanins, carotenoids, coumarins, alkaloids, polyacetylenes, saponins, terpenoids etc. It exhibits high natural antioxidants which can scavenge the free radicals which are very reactive and harmful to human health. It is prepared by incorporating dried dragon fruit pulp, peel, orange peel, lemon pulp and ginger by mixing in proper proportion. It is mainly designed to improve the antioxidant status and also to enhance the overall health status. This tea is very rich in natural bioactive compound which helped to prevent the oxidative damage due to over exposure to free radicals in human body. Nowadays, this herbal tea has gained popularity among the health conscious consumer in order to reduce the body weight and also for slimming and maintaining healthy body. This tea is very good for pregnant and breastfed mother as it contains citrus peel, orange peel other fruit and ginger. It is mainly designed in order to boost optimum health as well as for reducing the risk of certain diseases and diabetes, heart diseases and cancer. This herbal tea got very high sensorial score in terms of appearance, colour, flavour and taste. The shelf life of the perishable seasonal fruits can be extended by making this herbal tea and can also made available throughout the year.
The fruit tea under this study exhibited higher protein and carbohydrate content (5.6g/100g and 33.3g/100g) as compared to fruit tea available in the market (0.7- 1.2 g/100 g protein and carbohydrate content from 10.3-18.9 g/100 g). The vitamin C content in dragon fruit tea was recorded as 86.29 ±4.2 mg/100 g which is comparable with fruits which contains high amount of vitamin C such as orange and lemons. The TPC value of dragon fruit tea was found to be 368.9±0.07 mg GAE/100g DW. The flavonoid content dragon fruit tea was found to be 232.2 ±0.12 mg QE/100g DW. The antioxidant activity analysis revealed that dragon fruit tea (129±0.07 mg AAE/100g) in DPPH assay which is very high as compared with other fruit tea available in the market. Incorporation of these high nutrient rich ingredients has resulted in unique colour, flavour contributing to enhance sensory attribute and overall acceptability of the product. Besides an improvement in storage quality and shelf life was also observed. This tea is very good for pregnant and breastfed mother as it contains citrus peel, orange peel other fruit and ginger. It is mainly designed in order to boost optimum health as well as for reducing the risk of certain diseases like diabetes, heart diseases and cancer. There is a great potential for the commercialization of immune boosting health drink to create market opportunities among start -up entrepreneurs.
(The author is a Subject Matter Specialist (Home Science), KVK, Chandel, ICAR, Manipur Centre)