Formulation and Physicochemical Properties Evaluation of an Innovative Halalan Toyyiban Healthy Bar to Boost Cognitive Performance

Nowadays, incorporating healthy snacking into the diet is becoming popular since consumers have become more health conscious. With a broad range of snacks, snack bars have climbed the chart of preferred snacks, especially among children and adolescents. Given this known fact, this study aims to formulate healthy bars and determine their physical and chemical properties in light to improve cognitive performance. The formulation of the healthy bars was developed using design expert software. After that, the healthy bars were applied to proximate, fatty acid profiling, vitamin, mineral and antioxidant analyses, and their texture and colour properties were evaluated. The study found high nutritional value and excellent physical characteristics for healthy bars. More specifically, they have low moisture content, high in protein, essential fat (omega-3 and omega-6), fibre, vitamins and mineral, with outstanding antioxidant activity and a remarkable texture and colour as reported in previous studies. Overall, with the high essential fat, vitamin and mineral contents, and high antioxidant activity compared to recommended nutrient intake (RNI) for Malaysian children and adolescents, this healthy bar can help to improve their cognitive performance.