European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF PROBIOTIC CHOCOLATE FROM AEGLE MARMELOS

*Bedse Ravina N., Chaudhari Ashwini A., Chaudhari Arati G., Prof. Dusane Prachee K. and Dr. Pawar Sunil P.

ABSTRACT

A functional food is a food that has been added with new ingredients or the present ingredients have be processed in a manner that it provides additional health benefits than the conventional form. Aeglemarmelos, commonly called as Aeglemarmelos is a plant of the Rutaceae family and is known since ancient times on account of its medicinal properties. The leaves, bark, fruits and flowers are edible and confers different health benefits. The fruits of the plant are widely consumed and its pulp has a sweet, aromatic flavor and imparts a characteristic taste when consumed. The parts of the plant are often found to be ingredients of many ayurvedic medicines and are also used locally in certain illness such as diarrhea, constipation, gastro intestinal disorders, irritable bowel syndrome etc. Most of the beneficial properties of Aeglemarmelos are derived from the pulp of the fruit.Probiotics on the other hand refers to live microbes, which when consumed in adequate amounts Confers some health benefits. A number of beneficial effects have been attributed to the use of probiotics. In order to provide the advantageous effects of both Aeglemarmelos and probiotics, a product is formulated that contains both Aeglemarmelos fruit extracts and probiotics, which forms a functional food and when consumed will provide the benefits of both. a probiotic chocolate per day is more than enough to ensure the optimal activity on the intestinal flora in parallel to its higher survival rates of chocolate –embedded probiotics in the human body.

Keywords: Aeglemarmelos, beads, Lactobacillus sporogene, probiotic chocolate.