Nutritional quality assessment of optimized cereal- based complementary foods fortified with Moringa oleifera

Abstract

Childhood malnutrition is a household issue and urgent health challenge in Nigeria. In an attempt to address this challenge, the current study evaluated the effect of optimizing blending ratio of cereals and legumes on nutritional quality, storage stability and determined the most effective blend based on selected nutritional profiles. Optimal design mixture using Nutrisurvey (2007) was used to generate six complementary foods (CF) designated F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, and F6 from yellow maize (Zea mays), wheat (Triticum aestivum), millet (Pennisetum glaucum), groundnut (Arachis hypogea), soyabeans (Glycine max), and Moringa oleifera to meet nutritional specification in codex guideline for cereal based complementary foods. A basal diet was also formulated as control. Forty nine (49) wistar rats (21–28 days old) were divided into 7 groups and fed with the complementary formulations ad libitum for 4 weeks. Feed intake and change in weight were recorded. The urine and faeces were collected for nitrogen content determination. The data obtained was used to calculate various protein quality indices. Upon completion of the feeding trial, the wistar rats were sacrificed, and organs excised for subsequent biochemical analysis. Data was subjected to one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and results expressed as means± standard error of mean. Protein quality indices revealed that protein efficiency ratio ranged from (2.47-2.69), net protein ratio (3.64-3.79); while the biological value ranged from (93.06-98.21%). The true protein digestibility and net protein utilization were in the range of (76.02- 84.46%), (77.85- 85.66%) respectively. The storage stability profile of the formulated CF at baseline and end line were not significantly different (P > 0.05). F6 (55% millet based CF) was found to have the highest performance for growth parameters evaluated. Therefore, this study has revealed that with proper blending of local foodstuff, it is possible to prepare nutritionally adequate CF.