Tiger nut (Cyperus esculentus): Nutrient profiling using HPLC and UV-spectroscopic techniques

Abstract

Food insecurity and undernourishment constitute a major challenge in Africa and the world at large. To meet key nutritional targets and tackle the menace of undernourishment, we need to exploit available but underutilised food crops. A common underutilised food crop with the potential to improve daily nutrition is tiger nut. This potential is evidenced in the number of essential amino acids detected, which constitute 74.425% of the entire amino acids detected, in addition to important minerals and vitamins. The nutritional composition of the yellow variety of tiger nut (Cyperus esculentus) was determined using the standard methods of high-performance liquid chromatography and UV-spectroscopy. Ten amino acids were identified and quantified, including six essential amino acids, of which valine had the highest concentration (67.59 μg/100 g), followed by leucine (3.019 μg/100 g), phenylalanine (1.767 μg/100 g), lysine (0.946 μg/100 g), histidine (1.048 μg/100 g) and tryptophan (0.055 μg/100 g). The other amino acids were proline (24.124 μg/100 g), cysteine (1.269 μg/100 g), glycine (0.024 μg/100 g), and glutamine (0.022 μg/100 g). Monosaccharides detected were ribose (41.76%), glucose (21.52%), sedoheptulose (17.94%), fructose (4.566%), rhamnose (1.78%) and mannose (1.58%), whilst disaccharides detected were sucrose (87.66%) and maltose (11.39%). Mineral concentrations were K 144.80 ± 1.10 mg/100 g, Ca 94.39 ± 0.02 mg/100 g, Na 83.92 ± 0.04 mg/100 g, Fe 19.36 ± 0.54 mg/100 g, Mg 17.63±0.13 mg/100 g, Cu 13.28±0.05 mg/100 g and Zn 5.18±0.01 mg/100 g Vitamins A, B2, C and E were detected and quantified as 53.93±1.03, 7.61±1.20, 31.70±1.25 and 128.75±0.74 μg/100 g, respectively. The chemical and nutritional properties of the yellow variety of tiger nut suggest that it is rich in essential amino acids, minerals, and some vitamins. Hence, it should be recommended to persons with nutritional deficiencies as it is cheap and available all year round.

ASSESSMENT OF THE NUTRITIONAL AND MICROBIOLOGICAL QUALITY OF VENDED TIGER NUT (Cyperus esculentus) DRINK IN CHOBA, RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA

“…There is paucity of information on the determination of mineral content of tiger nut milk, unlike the tuber. The high potassium and low iron content (mg/100g) of the drink is consistent with the values report for tuber in comparison with the determined minerals ranging from 259.27±1.78 to 1225.50±8.72 when compared to magnesium (8.32±0.52 to 122.00±0.93), sodium (3.10±0.22 to 218.04±3.14) iron (2.82.00±0.00 to 8.52±0.54) and calcium (0.65±0.23 to 100.0±2.65) (Ekeanyanwu and Ononogbu, 2010;Madaki et al, 2018;Suleiman et al, 2018;Maduka et al, 2022;Omeje et al, 2022). This was also the trend in the only available report for tiger nut milk/drink reported by Kanu and Obi (2021) who report the following values (mg) for potassium (349.90), magnesium (169.92), calcium (40.05), sodium (26.26) and iron (4.22) in sample purchased at an Ekwulobia market in Aguata Local Government Area, Anambra State.…”

An overview of nutritional profiling in foods: Bioanalytical techniques and useful protocols

“…A normal-phase HPLC is sometimes employed as a solid-phase extraction step. A straightforward, quick, and adaptable HPLC assay was introduced to replace time-consuming and labor-intensive methods for determining vitamin K1 (phylloquinone) ( 17 ). It should be stressed that affordable chemicals and generally accessible laboratory equipment were used.…”

Functional and Antioxidative Characteristics of Soft Wheat and Tiger Nut (Cyperus esculentus) Flours Binary Blends

“…Tiger nut flour is characterized by high nutritional and biological value as it contains: 28.36 ± 0.14 g/100 g lipids, 22.36 ± 0.13 g/100 g starch, 10.4 ± 0.4 g/100 g protein, 20.2 ± 0.2 g/100 g fibers, 15.8 ± 1.3 g glucose eq./100 g sugars [8], while the amino acid profile reveals valine having the highest concentration (67.59 µg/100 g), followed by leucine (3.019 µg/100 g), phenylalanine (1.767 µg/100 g), lysine (0.946 µg/100 g), histidine (1.048 µg/100 g) and tryptophan (0.055 µg/100 g), with other amino acids in smaller amounts [9]. The composition of pressed tiger nut oil contains saturated fatty acids such as palmitic (13.5%) and stearic acid (6.3%), and most common unsaturated fatty acid is oleic acid (67.4%) [10]. Blending of tiger nut tubers into other products increases the nutritional value and gives them specific properties due to the high content of lipids, phospholipids, sterols, tocopherols (α, β and γ), dietary fibers and minerals such as K (144.80 ± 1.10 mg/100 g), Ca (94.39 ± 0.02 mg/100 g), Na (83.92 ± 0.04 mg/100 g), Fe (19.36 ± 0.54 mg/100 g), Mg (17.63 ± 0.13 mg/100 g), Cu (13.28 ± 0.05 mg/100 g) and Zn (5.18 ± 0.01 mg/100 g).…”