Total carbohydrate content was determined by the sulphuric acid hydrolysis method [8]. This involved weighing approximately 50 mg of sample (and glucose as a standard) into a 10 ml sample tube. 3 ml of 72 wt.% sulphuric acid was added, mixed and placed into an oven at 40 °C for 30 min. After hydrolysis, samples were diluted to 100 ml and spun at 3500 rpm for 5 min (g force of 2264). 1 ml of the supernatant was added to two separate tubes, one with 1 ml 5 wt.% phenol solution and one with 1 ml distilled water (sample blank). To all tubes 5 ml of conc. sulphuric acid was added, mixed and left for 1 h. The spectrophotometer was set to 485 nm and zeroed with a reagent blank and absorbance was measured for sample blanks and samples.