Sweet Potatoes Puree Mixed with Herbal Aqueous Extracts: A Novel Ready-to-Eat Product for Lactating Mothers

Abstract

Worldwide, around 385 thousand babies are born each day. Many of them cannot be breastfed because of several physiological problems of the mothers. Galactogogues remain the most natural and prolific way to improve both milk quantity and quality. Various herbs are traditionally used to increase lactation, but the best known are fennel (Foeniculum vulgare L.) and anise (Pimpinella anisum L.). The main objective of the present study was to obtain some special and nutritious ready-to-eat products from pureed sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) fortified with aqueous extracts from the aforementioned galactogogues herbs. Two different types of thermal treatment, steaming and baking, were investigated to obtain healthy and safe-for-consumption purees. Steam convection had a lower impact, compared with hot air convection, on the content of bioactive compounds among all samples. Among all samples, sweet potato puree with fennel aqueous extract, processed by steaming, (EFCA) showed the highest content of β-carotene (1.27 ± 0.11 mg/g DW), lycopene (0.59 ± 0.07 mg/g DW), and total carotenoids (1.38 ± 0.11 mg/g DW); the cooking loss registered statistically significantly lower values in the case of steam convection. These reports might potentially generate novel ready-to-eat foods used as meals and as well as lactation adjuvants.