Nutritional Value of Doum Fruits and It's Effect on patients with High Blood Pressure

Abstract

The main goals of this study were to study the nutritional value of Doum fruit and its effects as aqueous extract (5% T.S.S) on patients suffering from high blood pressure in Mezegela Village in El-Gezera State. The results obtained in this study indicated that Doum fruits contain high concentration of dry matter (93.91%), total carbohydrates (86.52%), crude fiber (19.59%), total sugars (16.03%) and ash (8.90%), on dry matter basis. Among the total sugars, the reducing and non-reducing sugars represent 3.37% and 12.69%, respectively. Moreover, the fruit was found very rich in potassium (3421.10 mg), moderately rich in magnesium (134.64 mg), calcium (95.01 mg) and iron (10.32 mg), and with low levels of sodium (5.32 mg), cupper (1.23 mg), manganese (1.08 mg) and zinc (1.10 mg) per 100g dry pulp. Concerning the effects of Doum fruits extract (5%T.S.S) on Mezegela Village patients (37) suffering from high blood pressure, the results showed that the systolic and diastolic blood pressure in all patients were found to be more than 120 mmHg and 83.32 mmHg before serving Doum fruits extract, respectively. After serving the extract (250ml) daily for 30 days before any medical treatment, the systolic blood pressure in 45.95% of patients was found to be less than 120 mmHg, while that in 35.13% of patients remained between 120 and 129 mmHg. In addition to that, the percent (%) of patients with systolic blood pressure ranging from 130-139 mmHg and more than 150 mmHg were significantly decreased from 37.84% and 10.81% to 8.11% and 2.70%, respectively. The mean value of the systolic blood pressure in all patients was significantly decreased from 134.73 mmHg to 124.07 mmHg after serving Doum fruits extract. On the other hand, the mean value of the diastolic blood pressure in all the patients before and after serving Doum fruits extract daily for a period of 30 days before any medication was found to decrease from 83.32 mmHg to 81.54 mmHg. However, the percent (%) of patients with diastolic blood pressure less than 80 vii mmHg and between 80-81 mmHg was significantly increased from 2.70% and 18.92% before serving Doum extract to 13.51% and 59.47%, respectively. While, the percent (%) of patients with diastolic blood pressure ranging between 82-83 mmHg, 84-85 mmHg and more than ≥ 85 mmHg before serving Doum extract was significantly decreased from 62.16%, 5.41% and 10.81% to 21.62%, 2.70% and 2.70%, respectively after Doum extract serving.