Malnutrition still happens in Indonesia. Of the various cases that exist, many suffer from Vitamin A deficiency.
VItamin A deficiency will cause eye diseases such as nearsightedness to blindness. Although severe cases of Vitamin A deficiency such as xerophthalmia are rare, but subclinical Vitamin A still happens, especially in toddlers. The subclinical prevalence of vitamin A deficiency, especially in serum retinol levels in the blood less than 20 µg/dl, only reaches 0.8 percent.
“To address the issue, we use carrots that have high contents of Vitamin A to make a supplement to prevent deficiency,” said Nindya Kirana Putri at Faculty of Biology UGM on Monday (22/7).
The product which comes in the form of carrot extract nanoemulsion supplement and virgin coconut oil (VCO) was done by her along with fellow students Diah Ayu Puspitasari and Nurlaili Rahmawati under the guidance of Mokhammad Fajar Pradipta, S.Si., M.Eng. The project was part of the Student Creativity Program 2019 held by Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education.
Diah Ayu Puspitasari explained carrots contain beta-carotene which is the most active form of pro-vitamin A. Pro-vitamin A can be enzymatically turned into vitamin A.
“Beta-carotene has non-polar structures so it dissolves in oil. In this study, VCO is used as a dissolving agent of beta-carotene because VCO contains saturated fatty acids that are easily digested and oxidized in the body,” she said.
Dried carrot was macerated in VCO so that the beta-carotene in the dry carrot could dissolve completely. Diah explained they chose nanoemulsion so that the absorption of pro-vitamin A in the body could be maximized. Identification of supplement size was done using a microscope and Particle Size Analyzer (PSA), while beta-carotene and mineral contents in the supplement each were determined by a spectrometer.
“Based on the tests, it was concluded that the supplement of carrot extract nanoemulsion and VCO with beta-carotene content has the potential as a pro-vitamin A agent to prevent Vitamin A deficiency,” she said.
Source: https://ugm.ac.id/id/berita/18136-suplemen-nanoemulsi-ekstrak-wortel-potensial-cegah-kva
