The nutritional quality of food transcends the availability of nutrients in food to being utilizable by the consumer. In this study, a complementary diet for infants was formulated with quality protein maize, soybean protein concentrate, and cassava starch. The formulated diet was extruded and the effect of extrusion on some antinutritional factors and in vitro protein and starch digestibilities of the meals were assessed. The amino acid profile of the samples was determined while other protein quality indices were calculated. The essential amino acid index of the formulated meal ranged from 87.3 in tryptophan to 133.7 in tyrosine-phenylalanine. Protein efficiency ratio of the formulated meal ranged from 1.20 to 2.45. The calculated biological value ranged from 92.57 to 95.20%.Extrusion cooking significantly improved the in vitro protein and starch digestibilities and significantly reduced some antinutritional factors of the formulated meals. Practical applicationsAdequate nutrition during infancy and early childhood is fundamental to the development of each child's full human potential. It is well recognized that the period from birth to 2 years of age is a "critical window" for the promotion of optimal growth, health, and behavioral development. Longitudinal studies have consistently shown that this is the peak age for growth faltering and common childhood illnesses. Nigeria is well endowed with adequate food supplies, however, more than one third of the children under the age of 5 are malnourished and of all deaths of children lower than 5 years of age are directly or indirectly attributable to malnutrition hence the reason for carrying out this study. Foods with balanced amino acid profile can be obtained by mixing legumes and cereal grains. Extrusion cooking utilizes the high temperature short time phenomenon which is effective for the improvement of the biological value of food. K E Y W O R D S amino acid profile, antinutritional factors, complementary diet, essential amino acid, extrusion cooking, in vitro protein digestibility, in vitro starch digestibility, protein quality, quality protein maize, soybean protein concentrate

Cassava leaves have the potential to improve dietary diversity, the intake of protein and micronutrient of members of low-income households. The study aimed at evaluating nutritional properties, and consumer preferences of legumefortified cassava leaves (soybean and groundnut fortified products) using plain leaves as control. The nutritional and anti-nutritional properties of the samples were determined using standard laboratory methods, and a structured questionnaire was used to assess consumer preferences. There were significant (P < 0.05) increase in the nutritional properties and the product type had a strong significant (p < 0.05) effect on the anti-nutritional properties (tannins, phytate, and cyanogenic potential (CNP). Respondents from Kaoma and Serenje districts have a higher preference for soy-fortified over groundnut-fortified variant. In contrast, Kasama and Mansa ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is an underutilized oil-bearing seed found in Nigeria. The fatty acid, phospholipids and phytosterols composition of germinated and non-germinated seed of Sorghum bicolor were evaluated using standard analytical techniques. The result showed that the most concentrated fatty acids (%) found in the geminated and non-germinated oils were linoleic acid (41.16, 59.45), oleic acid (33.80, 23.05), palmitic acid (18.20, 10.68) and stearic acid (2.35, 1.72). The fatty acids composition of the germinated and non-germinated oils contained a healthy mixture of all the types of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. The polyunsaturated/saturated index (P/S) was 2.12 % and 3.82 % for germinated and non-germinated oils, respectively. The most prominent phospholipids (mg/100 g) found in the germinated seed oil was phosphatidylcholine (23.86) followed by phosphatidylethanolamine (9.22) and phosphatidylinositol (9.08) while the most prominent in the non-germinated seed oil was phosphatidylcholine (32.39) followed by phosphatidylethanolamine (13.03) and lysophosphatidylcholine (13.07). The high value of phosphatidylcholine showed that Sorghum bicolor may help in protecting the liver from disease and hepatitis. The total phytosterols for germinated and non-germinated were (45.93 mg/100 g and 56.69 mg/100 g), respectively. This suggests that Sorghum bicolor lipid is a good source of food supplement or dietary and health benefits to human.

Over the years, fermentation process has been attributed to improving nutritional values of foods but drawbacks in legume crops due to inherent inhibiting compounds on flavor sensation of the resulting product. Hence, the urgent need to explore the influence of steeping methods on the quality attributes of flour samples and its bread making potential. Lima bean flour was processed through the traditional slopping steeping method (TSM) and back‐slopping steeping method (BSSM). The processed lima bean and sorghum flour were mixed with wheat flour at ratio 0%, 2.5%, 5%, and 7.5% to produce composite breads. The flour samples were analyzed for quality, physical, and sensory characteristics. As evident from both steeping methods, there was significant differences (p < .05) among the samples. Production of breads with 2.5% inclusion of lima bean flour steeped through BSSM and 2.5% sorghum flour were the most preferable. However, breads produced from TSM gave better physical properties. Practical applications Bakery foods product is attracting a global attention particularly when processed from underutilized legumes and cereals crops. Recent developments have established that incorporating lima bean with wheat and sorghum flour is cost effective, enhancing global food security, and increases quality of bread in the food industry. Appraising the influence of steeping methods would facilitate baking process geared toward commercial production of good quality bread from lima bean‐sorghum composite flour.

The consumption of imported dairy products is high especially in developing countries including Nigeria where little or no milk is produced locally which makes the products expensive, out of reach to common consumers and also inconvenient for lactose intolerance and vegans. Soymilk, as plant-based milk was substituted for cow’s milk in parts and in whole for the production of yoghurt and the effect of substitution was evaluated on the minerals, vitamins, microbial, and sensory properties of the products using the established methods. Significant differences (p < 0.05) exits among the yoghurt samples in the micronutrient contents. The soymilk substitution produced yoghurts with trace/macro mineral contents’ range of 0.14–28.50 mg/100 g and vitamin contents (ranged 0.02–0.43 mg/100 g) that were of comparable range of values with the yoghurt made with 100% cow’s milk (0.21–29.60 mg/100 g minerals and 0.05–0.58 mg/100 g vitamins). Generally, no significant difference (p < 0.05) was observed in most of the sensory attributes evaluated (range 8.00–8.01) in the entire samples (except in the 100% soymilk yoghurt). The microbial analysis proved the safety of the entire products for consumption. These showed the positive effect of substituting soymilk for cow’s milk at all the levels used, thus, the lactose intolerance and vegans can find alternative to dairy yoghurt in the 100% soymilk substitution and enjoy the functional health benefits of yoghurt. Also, the total dependence on importation of dairy milk and cost of production of composited milk yoghurt could be reduced to improve the nation’s economy and make the product economically accessible to common man. Graphical abstract