Nutrient and Anti-Nutrient Composition of Extruded Cereal Flours Fortified with Grain Amaranth, Baobab and Orange-fleshed Sweet Potato Powder

Abstract

A majority of households in Sub-Saharan Africa utilize cereal-based flours in the preparation of most of their staples. However, the micronutrient contents of these cereal-based flours are low with higher levels of anti-nutrients. Food to food fortification is being used as an alternative to improve the micronutrient content of the cereal-based flours. This study sought to develop an extruded composite flour using sorghum and maize as the cereal base and baobab, grain amaranth and orange-fleshed sweet potatoes as the fortificants. A completely randomized design in factorial arrangement with ingredient ratio and extrusion as factors and seven levels was used to develop different formulations of the composites. Fortification of sorghum-maize cereal flour blends with amaranth, baobab and orange-fleshed sweet potato powder resulted in a significant (p<0.05) increase in the protein, beta-carotene, iron and zinc contents, on average, 8.99 ± 1.03 g/100g, 895.90 ± 346.85 mg/100g, 11.81 ± 9.73 mg/100g and 1.74 ± 0.18 mg/100g dry weight basis respectively. High grain amaranth levels in the formulations significantly (p<0.05) increased the phytate content whereas tannin content was significantly lower in low sorghum formulations. Conversely, extrusion of the composite flours significantly (p<0.05) reduced protein and beta-carotene contents by 4.7% and 40.9% respectively. Extrusion and its interaction with ingredient ratio significantly (p<0.05) affected the proximate, mineral and anti-nutrient composition of the composite flours. Both the fortificants and extrusion play a role in the reduction of anti-nutrients and therefore future studies should focus on other treatments that can be used together with extrusion to reduce anti-nutrients.

Nutritional evaluation of complementary porridge formulated from orange‐fleshed sweet potato, amaranth grain, pumpkin seed, and soybean flours

“…The triple burden of malnutrition mostly affects Africa as a continent, with 30 countries suffering micronutrient malnutrition, undernutrition, and overweight (Development Initiatives, 2018; Low et al., 2020). Sub‐Saharan Africa experiences a micronutrient deficiency of as high as 49% among households (Emmaculate et al., 2020; Fraval et al., 2019). The most serious health challenge in developing countries is undernutrition, with Tanzania having the highest risk of undernutrition in the Eastern and Southern Africa.…”

“…In consonance with many of the sub‐Saharan African households utilizing cereal‐based flours to prepare most of their staple foods, the micronutrient composition of these cereal‐based flours is low with higher quantities of antinutritional components (Emmaculate et al., 2020; Fraval et al., 2019). Tanzania, as one of the developing countries in Africa, depends on weaning foodstuffs that are obtained from locally available staple foods, especially cereals (Mamiro et al., 2005; Muhimbula & Zacharia, 2010; Nwosu et al., 2014), thereby causing a high rate of childhood undernutrition (Mosha et al., 2000).…”

“…However, the commercial weaning foods, which are trusted to be nutritive and fortified, are usually not available in the rural areas, and where available, they are far from being accessed by many households due to their exorbitant prices (Dewey & Brown, 2003). Similarly, the availability of good sources of protein such as meat, eggs, milk, and fish is limited due to their high costs in the households of many developing countries, prompting the need to improve the nutritional content of the readily obtainable cereals (Emmaculate et al., 2020; Manary & Callaghan‐Gillespie, 2020). It is well known that agricultural practices, and climatic, socioeconomic, cultural, and ecological factors determine to a great extent the availability of foods in a given region, dietary pattern, and well‐being of the people (Caswell & Yaktine, 2013; Ofoedu, Iwouno, et al., 2021; Singh & Singh, 2017; Tandzi & Matengwa, 2020).…”