Nutritional analysis of homemade infant gruels made from malted cereals, soybeans and groundnuts in North-western Nigeria

Abstract

Prevalence of malnutrition in children in North-western Nigeria is high due to poor complementary feeding
practices. An attempt was made to formulate low-cost, nutritive complementary foods using malted maize,
millet and sorghum with groundnut and soyabean. Nutrient qualities of gruel of the formulations thus prepared
were evaluated. The ash content ranged from 1.03 ± 0.01 to 2.54 ± 0.35 g/100 g with the crude protein ranging
from 6.37 ± 0.23 to 7.88 ± 0.28 g/100 g. Levels of lysine (4.80 to 6.87 g/100 g protein) and methionine (1.25 to
3.33 g/100 g protein) in most formulated complementary foods were higher than the international reference
values of 4.2 and 2.2 for lysine and methionine, respectively. Percentage in- vitro protein digestibility of the
formulations (75 to 82%) is comparable to that of the commonly used complementary foods (72 to 82%) in the
zone. Zinc content ranged from 74.15 to 107.85 ppm and Iron content was between 177.10 and 476.64 ppm.
Phytates (0.01 to 0.34 mg/100 g), tannins (16 to 37 mg/100 g) and free cyanide (0.16 to 0.99 mg/100 g). Levels of
microbial contamination in the formulated were lower when compared to that reported in commonly used
complementary foods in North Western Nigeria. There was no presence of Samonella and Shigella in all the
samples while also no Staphylococcus spp and Escherichia coli in some of the samples. Sensory evaluation
found the formulated complementary foods preparations to have good acceptability. There is improvement in
the nutrient quality of the formulated complementary foods with good acceptability comparable to that
commonly used in the zone.