Antistunting potential of deepsea water concentrate as multivitamin granules: stability and in vivo activity study

Stunting in children is caused by severely inadequate nutrients; therefore, balanced nutritious foods such as multivitamins is the most promising alternative interventions. Concentrated deep seawater is rich in minerals, thus provide potent multivitamin sources. The hygroscopic nature of minerals makes them prone to moisture. Consequently, the fabrication of a non-hygroscopic dosage form and the study on its potential for stunting conditions are highly needed. The concentrate was encapsulated into granules by using different fillers with Florite as desiccant. Physicochemical evaluations were conducted using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). An in vivo anti-stunting study was performed using zebrafish as an animal model. The results indicated that encapsulation using Avicel PH 102 as filler, either with or without addition of Florite 10%, provided good stability after 5 months of storage. Antistunting activity test showed that, after induction by rotenone, treatments with deep seawater either in form of concentrate water or granule improved the stunted condition of the zebra fish embryos shown as the improvement in the hatching rate, brain length, and body length. Deep seawater concentrate was successfully formulated into granules which provided moisture protection of its highly hygroscopic nature as well as antistunting activity.