Biochemical Ameliorating Potential of Optimized Dough Meal from Plantain (Musa AAB), Soycake (Glycine max) and Rice bran (Oryza sativa) Flour Blends in Streptozotocin Induced Diabetic Rats

Research is gradually drifting towards the adoption of food as therapy for the management of diseases that result from metabolic derangement, in extension genetic diseases can as well be managed by a functional and nutritional diet that will maintain the health of an individual through life. Diabetes Mellitus is not an exception. This study was aimed at formulating functional diets from blends of plantain, soycake, and rice bran flours. They were processed into the dough and referred to as optimized flour blends and dough meals. The 100% Plantain flour (PLTF) and 100% cerolina (CERF) serve as the positive and negative controls. The protein efficiency ratio of the optimized flour blends and dough meal samples fed on rats ranged between 0.73 in PLTF – 3.23 in PSRD. The flour blends were less digestible than the dough meal flour. The dough meal flours (PLTD, CERD, and PSRD) have higher α–amylase inhibitory activity than the flour samples (PLTF, CERF, and PSRF). The PSRD has the highest α–amylase inhibition (30%) and was significantly higher than others.Inhibition against α- glucosidase activity ranged from 25% (PLTD) to 32% (PSRD). The raw flours (PLTF, CERF, and PSRF) have lessα–glucosidase inhibition than dough meal samples. Rats fed with the optimized diets enhanced the endogenous antioxidant status by elevating the levels of reduced glutathione (GSH), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and glutathione transferase (GST) in the liver, while the diet depressed the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), myeloperoxidase (MPO) and xanthine oxidase (XO). The optimized dough meal has high alpha-amylase and alpha-glucosidase activities which are key enzymes implicated in diabetes mellitus; hence, the sample has the potential to be used as dietary intervention to modulate DM and hypertension.