Nutritional Quality, Mycotoxins and Antinuntritional Factors in Quality Protein Maize-Based Supplementary Foods for Children in Tanzania

Abstract

Most complementary foods used for children in Tanzania are low in energy and nutrient content. In addition, they may contain contaminants such as mycotoxins and also antinutritional factors. The aim of this study was to determine nutritional quality of quality protein maize-based supplementary foods and levels of mycotoxins (fumonisins, aflatoxins) and antinutritional factors (phytates, tannins). Three composite diets were prepared from quality protein maize namely; quality protein maize-soybeans; quality protein maize-soybeans-common beans and quality protein maize-soybeans-cowpeas. The fourth and fifth diets were prepared from plain quality protein maize and plain common maize. The formulations were made to meet the greatest amino acid scores and the desired amount of energy and protein according to the FAO/WHO (1985) recommendation for preschool children. Concentrations of energy, protein, amino acid, aflatoxins, fumonisins, phytates and tannins were determined by standard methods. Quality protein maize-soybeans-common beans and quality protein maize-soybeans-cowpeas met RDA for both energy (360 kcal/100 g) and protein (16 g/100 g) for children aged 2-5 years. The amino acid scores for QPM-based diets were higher than the recommended scores (≥65%) for supporting optimal growth of children. Concentrations of fumonisin B1 and total fumonisin were 1687.82 and of 1717.16 μg/kg in quality protein maize and 1625.08 and 1745.22 μg/kg in plain common maize, respectively. These values were above the maximum tolerable limit of 1000 μg/kg recommended by the European commission. Efforts such as good agricultural practices and proper processing of food ingredients by sorting, dehulling and washing are recommended to reduce concentrations of fumonisins in maize grains.

Nutrient Composition of Cereals-based Complementary Flour and its Nutritional Adequacy in Infants Nutrition

“…The phytate content in all samples was found to exceed the tolerable level for human consumption. According to Onomi et al (2004), the tolerable level for phytate is 25 mg/100 g. Nonetheless, below this level the micronutrient losses are minimized (Maseta et al, 2016). The range of phytate found in this study was 59.47 -1176.80 g/100 g, Gibson et al (2010) reported phytate content of 600 mg/100 g in unrefined cereals and legumes-based complementary foods.…”

Effect of processing and substitution levels of Ukwa (Treculia africana) on the anti-nutrient factors, in-vitro starch and protein digestibility and total essential amino-acid content of snack bars

“…The reduction in tannins by the dehulling process could be due to the removal of the hulls since most tannins are located in the hulls. The concentrations of tannins in the flour recorded in this study posed no health risk since the accepted lethal dose reported is 0.09% (Ifie and Emeruwa, 2011;Maseta et al, 2016). Tannins are high oligomeric molecules of polyphenol that occur in plants naturally (Adeoti et al, 2017).…”

“…Thapliyal et al (2014) reported a 14.39-20.87% reduction for chickpeas, and Wang et al (2008) reported a decrease of 5.3-8.0% in field peas due to dehulling. The concentrations of phytate in the flours were lower than the considered lethal amount to human health, 250 mg/100 g, reported in the literature (Nagel, 2010;Maseta et al, 2016). According to Kumar et al (2010), phytates, when at high levels in human foods, may limit the bioavailability and utilization of minerals such as iron, calcium, magnesium, and manganese by forming compounds that are insoluble and indigestible.…”

Effect of Malted African Breadfruit (Treculia africana) Seed Flour Inclusion on In-vitro Glycemic Index, Starch and Protein Digestibility of Fibre Rich Snack Bars

“…Tannin content ranged from 0.27 to 0.50%. The concentrations of tannin in the flours posed no health risk, since the reported safe level is 90 mg/100g" [26]; [27]. "Tannins are the oligometric higher molecular of polyphenols compound occurring naturally in plants" [28].…”

“…The amount of oxalate in the processed flour (0.21 -0.31 mg/100g), equally, could not be toxic under meal portion since they were lower than the safe level (15-30 g/100g food consumed) reported in literature for man [30]. Concentrations of phytate in the flours was 0.37 -7.42 mg/100g, and were lower than 250 mg/100g, the amount considered safe level to health [31]; [27]. This indicated that the concentration of phytate in the flour samples were of acceptable safe levels.…”