Traditional foods are recognizable specific cuisine or food peculiar to a particular ethnic group, locality or society. Traditional foods are not only consume for their nutritional values but also for their medicinal and socio-cultural significance. However, information on the nutrient compositions of some of these indigenous dishes are not yet documented. This study is aimed at evaluating the proximate and mineral composition of commonly consumed traditional foods in Nasarawa state Nigeria. A cross sectional survey was adopted and recipes were collected across the ethnic groups for the commonly consumed traditional foods in Nasarawa state. The recipes of ten (10) commonly consumed traditional dishes were standardized in the laboratory, prepared and evaluated for proximate and mineral composition using standard procedures of analyses. The result shows that Moisture content of the foods ranged from 13.39 to 5.78g /100g, Crude fibre content was from 19.45 to 2.93g /100g, Crude protein ranged from 24.22 - 5.43g /100g, Crude fat 30.32 - 0.92g /100g and Ash 9.84 - 3.82g/100g, Carbohydrate content ranged from 57.31 - 27.17g /100g and the energy value content ranged from 458.63 - 326.68g /100g. The results of mineral composition further reveal that sodium ranged between 126.00 and 32.00ppm /100g, potassium between 22.36 and 6.72ppm /100g, calcium between 2.08 and 0.64ppm/100g, phosphorus between 2.17 and 0.80ppm /100g, Magnesium 7.25 and 2.74ppm /100g), while the values for iron, zinc and copper ranged from 4.74 to 2.32ppm /100g, 1.55 to 0.09ppm/ 100g and 20.49 to 0.17ppm /100g respectively. Conclusively, the consumption of these foods will help reduce the high level of non-communicable chronic diseases as they are gotten from natural sources.

Background: Ensuring good health, growth and development of children requires adequate nutrition during infancy and early childhood. Therefore, optimal feeding during the first few years of life provides opportunity for prevention of growth faltering and under-nutrition. Hence, improvement of infant feeding practices for children less than five years should be a high priority globally. Objectives: The objective of this study is to assess the feeding practices of mothers and the nutritional status of infants and young children in some selected Primary Health Care (PHCs) in Paikoro LGA of Niger state, Nigeria Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in some selected Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in Paikoro area of Niger state and a total of 200 mother/child pair were selected using simple random sampling method. Data was collected from mothers using a pre- tested structured questionnaire. The data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) (Version 20.0). Tests were statistically significant at p ≤ 0.05. Results: Majority (of the respondents feed colostrums to their babies. The prevalence of initiation of breastfeeding (78.5%), colostrum consumption (97.5%) and timely introduction of complementary feeding (74.5%) practices were high. The results further revealed 34.0% of the respondents breastfeed on demand while 29.5% were using feeding bottles. Conclusion: The study shows that a very high percentage of the mothers feed colostrums to their children but none breastfed their children to 24 months of age.

Malnutrition resulting mostly from poor infant feeding practices is a major public health problem in Nigeria. This study evaluated the nutritional and functional properties of flour blends prepared from fermented millet, groundnut and Moringa oleifera, as well as attributes of the gruel obtained from the composite flour. Seven blends were formulated using NutriSurvey for Linear Programming Software and compared with Ogi (traditional complementary food) and cerelac (commercial flour). Data were analyzed using statistical packages, means values separated using Ducan's New Multiple Range (DNMR) test at P<0.05. Protein, fat, fibre and ash content of the formulated samples ranged from 18. 18-20.46, 10.89-20.72, 3.44-3.89, and 1.62-3.30g/100g, respectively, and all were significantly higher (P<0.05) than in ogi (7.08, 5.61, 0.92 and 1.18), while energy values (Kcal/100g) ranged between 427.17 and 481.16. Calcium, phosphorous, zinc and iron content of the formulated samples were significantly higher P<0.05) than in ogi, but lower to cerelac. Bulk density, water absorption capacity, least gelation and swelling capacity of the blends ranged from 0.75-0.81g/ml, 2.81-4.24ml/g, 12.33-18.67% and 3.01-5.91% respectively. Sensory evaluation indicated that the samples were highly rated (P 0.05) with sensory scores of above 5.00 for all the sensory attributes investigated. The study shows that the formulated samples are of high nutrient dense products and possess good functional and sensory properties which are needed for the production of complementary foods for infants and older children.

The customary puerperal usage of Natron consumption has been identified as one of the risk factors in the cause of high blood pressure in human as well as kidney diseases and abortion in early pregnancies in female. This study was done to determine the effect of Natron and other Natron alternatives on the histology of kidney and liver in male Wistar Albino rats Twenty-five Wistar albino rats of the same sexes (male) weighing 100- 140 kg body weights were used and were divided into five groups. Group 1, 2, 3 and 4 were fed with feed mixed with natron powder, feed mixed with wood ash, feed mixed with sesame ash, feed mixed with palm fruit bunch ash respectively, while group 6 served as a normal control (fed with plain feed). The animals were kept in plastic cages, allowed to acclimatize for two weeks before the commencement of the experiment. They were fed with pelletized growers’ feed (Vital feed) and were allowed access to water. The rats were fed with 25kg of feeds for 12 days to allow them stabilized and recover from stress. Then the rats were fed with the pelletized feed for four weeks to all the groups. The animals were anaesthetized with chloroform vapour after 4 weeks and blood samples were collected through cardiac puncture into labeled tubes for electrolyte analyses. The labeled centrifuge tubes were allowed to stand for 30 minutes to clot and centrifuged at 4000 g for 10mm and the serum obtained was pipette into labeled tubes. The organs were subjected to histology. The liver tissues were embedded in paraffin wax, sectioned at 5μm and stained by hematoxylin and eosin. Proximate analysis showed that natron, palm bunch ash, sesame stem ash, and parkia wood ash had crude protein values of 0.03%, 0.05%, 0.07%, and 0.09% respectively. Fat and fiber were not present in both Natron and its alternatives. The appreciable amount of ash content in the food additives indicated good mineral preservation capacity. Parkia wood ash may contain toxic chemical substances that may affect the kidney and liver.