Background/Objective: This study was carried out to investigate the health benefit effects of Hibiscus sabdariffa Lin (H. sabdariffa L.) dried calyces beverage on some clinical, biochemical and hematological parameters in humans. Methods: The dried calyces were harvested in the two regions (Adamaoua and West) of Cameroon. The proximate, mineral composition and phytochemical screening were evaluated. A standardized extraction procedure was set up and from the calyces; we prepared a drink for 32 male volunteers' subjects aged from 21 to 32 years, specially recruited for the experiment. Each participant consumed 500 mL twice a day (in the morning and in the evening) as supplement beverage during two weeks. The anthropometrics (age, height, weight, body mass index (BMI)), clinical (systolic and diastolic blood pressure), hematological (RBC, Hb, PCV, MCV, MCH, MCHC, WBC, Lymphocytes, MID cells, Granulocytes, platelet and MPV) and biochemical (TC, HDL-C, LDL-C, TG, serum iron, blood glucose, creatinine, urea, ASAT and ALAT) parameters were determined in the blood on days 0 and at the end of each week. Results: Crude protein, lipid, fiber and ash content of calyx ranged respectively from 4.57-5.98, 10.10-11.33, 20.39-22.30 and 9.15%-10.38% while the levels of minerals were ranged from 512

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A rat growth and balance study was conducted to determine the protein quality and digestibility of the cooked spathe and spadix. Twenty-four (24) weanling male wistar rats were distributed in four groups of six elements. Test groups received respectively spathe-based, spadix-based and spadix + spathe-based diets. Each protein product was fed as the sole source of 10% dietary protein. The evaluated biological parameters were protein efficiency ratio (PER), net protein ratio (NPR) and true protein digestibility (TPD). The cooked spadix contained higher values of crude lipid (10.8% DM), crude protein (18.73% DM), and crude fibre (34.47% DM) while spathe had higher values of crude ash (9.26% DM), cellulose (8.20% DM), phytate (0.06 mg/100 g DM), cyanide (0.25 mg/100 g DM) and total oxalate (880.0 mg/100 g DM). Spathe showed significantly (p < 0.05) a lower PER (1.00), NPR (1.42) and TPD (53.00%) compared to spadix. Spadix+ spathe mixture showed the highest values of PER (1.76), NPR (2.11) and TPD (60.72%) compared to spathe and spadix separately, though there was no significant difference (p > 0.05) between the TPD of spadix and spadix + spathe mixture. The presence of higher levels of cellulose, phytate and hydrocyanide in spathe could have been responsible for the lower protein digestibility and quality observed.

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