Development of a soursop leaves powder induced muffins and its quality analysis

Soursop leaves are widely recognized for their medicinal properties, including antioxidant, antibacterial and anti-mutagenic effects. This study explores the development of soursop leaves incorporated in regular muffins to enhance their nutritional and functional properties. The muffins were formulated using different concentrations of soursop leaf powder (6g, 8g and10g) along with refined wheat flour, butter, sugar, baking powder, sugar, chocolate powder and vanilla extract. A comprehensive analysis was conducted to evaluate the proximate composition, phytochemical content, antioxidant activity, and sensory characteristics of the muffins. The optimized formulation (T3with 10 g soursop leaves powder) has 15.63% moisture, 8.41% ash, 19.56% protein, 19.34% fat, 30.32% carbohydrates, 12.61% fibre. The Total Phenolic content (TPC) was found to be 0.9947 mg GAE/g, while the Total Flavonoid content (TFC) was 0.9249 mg QE/g, demonstrating a significant enhancement in antioxidant potential. The antioxidant activity, assessed using DPPH radical scavenging assay, showed inhibition value 0.9844μg/mL, indicating a positive correlation with increasing soursop leaf powder concentration. The presence of bioactive substances such flavonoids, alkaloids, tannins, phenols and terpenoids that supports the muffins antioxidant capacity was verified by phytochemical analysis. The sensory evaluation with 9-point hedonic scale showed that, T3sample has highest overall acceptance. This study demonstrates how soursop leaves can be used as a functional food ingredient to assist sustainable food innovation and promote health benefits.