COMPARATIVE STUDY OF VITAMIN AND MINERAL CONTENTS OF SOME COMMERCIAL FRUIT JUICES AVAILABLE IN AFIKPO, SOUTH-EAST, NIGERIA

Abstract

In this study, the vitamin and mineral contents of seven different brands of commercially available fruit juices (samples A, B, C, D, E, F and G) in Eke market, Afikpo, South-East, Nigeria were examined using standard analytical methods of AOAC to compare their overall quality with World Health Organization (WHO). Results of the study revealed that the vitamin contents in mg/100ml for Vitamin A recorded the lowest in sample B with 1.01±0.16 to 1.01±0.05 while sample F recorded the highest value of Vitamin A with 1101±0.16. Vitamin C was least in sample E with 5.20±0.42 while the highest was obtained in Sample A with 22.26±1.63; Vitamin E was the least with a value of 0.22±0.06 in sample D and recorded the highest value of 1.47±0.10 in sample B; Vitamin B1 was the lowest in sample D with a value of 0.20±0.15 mg/100ml) and was highest in sample A with a value of 1.14±0.01; Vitamin B2 recorded the least value in Sample F with 0.43±0.05 and the highest value of 3.01±1.10 was reported in Sample C. Results of the mineral analysis also revealed that sample G and sample B recorded the highest mineral contents for Na (14.17±0.05 mg) and Ca (13.67±0.02 mg) respectively, while the lowest mineral contents recorded were Fe (0.07±0.01 mg) in sample F and phosphorus (0.12±0.01 mg) in sample C. Similarly, the preservative contents of the sampled fruit juices showed the highest sulphur dioxide (0.10±0.01 %) in sample D and lowest value (0.03± 0.02 %) in sample B while sodium benzoate highest value (0.16 ± 0.02 %) in sample D and lowest value (0.03±0.01) in sample E were recorded. Results of ANOVA performed also revealed that the vitamin and mineral contents of each fruit juice sample vary significantly (P<0.05) from each other and were within the WHO recommended values except for vitamin B2 (3.01±1.10 mg/100ml) in sample C which showed value higher than WHO recommended daily allowance. The results of all the Vitamins were below the regulatory dietary allowance. The findings showed that the fruit juice samples were suitable for consumption.