Original Articles: 2015 Vol: 7 Issue: 4
Study of antioxidant activity and physicochemical properties of coconut milk (Pati santan) in Malaysia
Abstract
Coconut milk is the word used to describe the liquid obtained from the mechanical or manually press of the coconut meat usually with or without added water. In Malay word the coconut milk is known as ‘Pati Santan’ which usually soldas a fresh liquid form in the local market. The composition of coconut milk depends on the amount of water used for the extraction, affecting significantly moisture and fat content. The aim of this study was to determine the physicochemical properties and antioxidant activity based on TPC, FRAP, ORAC and DPPH of Malaysian coconut milk. Results of the study showed that coconut milk samples exhibited a significantly different (P<0.05) antioxidant activity in comparison of goat and cow’s milk for all the assays except DPPH. Coconut’s milk exhibited the highest AA in TPC, FRAP, DPPH and ORAC assays with mean value of 575.15 mg GA/100 g FW, 471.55 mg TE/100 g FW, 68.39 % and 784.47 umol TE/100g F.W, respectively. In contrast, the cow’s milk exhibited the lowest mean value of 477.68 mg GA/100 g FW, 398.88 mg TE/100 g FW, 60.81 % and 361.96 umol TE/100g F.W, respectively).Results showed that physicochemical properties of Malaysian coconut milk were significantly different (P<0.05) among the comparative coconut milk samples of other tropical countries, with some samples more superior compared with others in one or more aspects. This result showed that Malaysian coconut milk possess high proteins content (3.40 ± 0.59) with lower amount of fats (15.44 ± 1.53).Thus, Pati Santan can be considered as an excellence source of antioxidants with health and medicinal applications of low content of fat.