Makapuno developed as ice cream stabilizer

A government researcher has tapped the potential of makapuno (mutant coconut) as an ice cream stabilizer.

Maria Judith Rodriguez, of the Philippine Coconut Authority-Albay Research Center, developed a method of isolating galactomannan, a compound that helps ice cream not to melt easily, from makapuno.

This compound also makes salad-dressing stay in its right consistency, Rodriguez added.

The study entitled “Isolation, Characterization and Utilization of Galactomannan from Makapuno” was monitored by the Los Baños-based Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCARRD) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

“This compound, also called ‘Mak gum’ because it is derived from makapuno, has been tried as a raw material for the development of biodegradable film (biofilm),” she said.

Mak gum biofilm can be used as wound gauze and as wrapping material for food products, she added.

“It has also been tried as an ingredient in the production of hand sanitizer and a substitute to or combined with agarose or polyacrylamide to lessen the cost of electrophoresis laboratory analysis with positive results,” Rodriguez said.

According to research, ice cream is a relatively high-energy food containing about five percent protein as well as calcium and phosphorus.

A research published in Europe also found that drinking whole fat milk and eating ice cream appear to be better for women trying to become pregnant than a diet consisting of low-fat dairy products such as skimmed milk and yogurt.

Researchers in the United States have also found a link between a low-fat dairy diet and increased risk of infertility due to lack of ovulation (anovulatory infertility).

Their study showed that if women ate two or more servings of low-fat dairy food a day, they increased their risk of ovulation-related infertility by more than four-fifths (85 percent) compared to women who ate less than one serving of low-fat dairy food a week.

On the other hand, if women consumed at least one serving of high-fat dairy food a day, they reduced their risk of anovulatory infertility by more than a quarter (27 percent) compared to women who consumed one or fewer high-fat dairy serving a week.