Nutritive assessment of sorghum-ogi plantain flour weaning food

摘要

The high rate of malnutrition in children is exclusively attributed to non-affordability of nursing mothers from low-income population to meet the high prices of commercial weaning foods.This has largely affected the dietary status of infant when they reach weaning stage.In this study,utilisation of plantain flour(Musa spp.)for enhancing the nutritive value of Sorghum-Ogi as common weaning food in southwest Africa was investigated.Same quantity of 100 g/g of Sorghum-Ogi was prepared for each of the batches with increasing quantity of plantain flour at 20,40,60,80 and 100% levels of addition to prepare the study samples.Proximate analysis,functional properties,pasting and organoleptic properties,microbial load of the samples were determined using the AOAC official methods for nutritional labelling.Results of proximate analysis showed decreased protein(10.28-6.13%),carbohydrate(40.37-7.55%)and ash(1.4-0.3%)contents with increased level of plantain flour addition,while the fat and crude fibre contents increased with increased addition of plantain flour.The functional analysis indicated 28.6% increase in water absorption value at 60% enhancement with decreased value at 100% addition.The microbial load of the blend showed that the food blends are safe for consumption at all level and the organoleptic evaluation by trained panellist preferred 60% acceptance rate of enhancement.In conclusion,the nutritional indices analysed specified the use of plantain flour with Sorghum-Ogi as weaning food up to 60% level of inclusion to handle the nutritional deficiency in neonates during weaning stage of development.