Nutritional quality of raw and processed unripe Carica papaya fruit pulp and its contribution to dietary diversity and food security in some peasant communities in Nigeria

Abstract

Processed unripe Carica papaya fruit pulp is used as soup ingredient in some Nigerian communities but the nutritional value of the variously processed forms is largely unknown. The thrust of this study was to determine the nutritional quality of traditionally processed unripe C. papaya fruit pulp using AOAC methods. The proximate evaluation of the raw, dried-uncooked and dried-cooked samples revealed variation in nutrient contents (g/100 g): moisture (7.84±0.15-26.07±0.04), carbohydrate (55.82±0.18-63.00±0.58), protein (12.49±0.01-16.50±0.29), fat (0.94±0.04-3.30±0.06), ash (3.45±0.08-5.60±0.06) and crude fibre (1.89±0.01- 3.53±0.12). The dried-uncooked sample was found to have the highest mineral content (p<0.05) compared with the raw and dried-cooked samples. Aside potassium, iron and selenium which were significantly higher (p<0.05) in the raw (199.33±12.25 mg/100 g, 0.28±0.03 mg/100 g and 1.62±0.09 mg/100 g respectively) than dried-cooked (94.67± 1.76 mg/100 g, 0.17±0.02 mg/100 g and 1.37±0.12 mg/100 g respectively), the composition of other minerals was similar in the two samples. In the same vein, the vitamin content of the raw fruit pulp was significantly reduced (p<0.05) by the sun-drying and cooking. There were notable decreases in the values of non-nutrients except for the levels of flavonoids and cardenoloids which did not differ in the three samples. Overall, unripe C. papaya fruit pulp was found to be rich in nutrients; traditional processing may not adversely affect its proximate composition. However, the appreciable leach in vitamins and minerals can be supplemented with other good sources via complementary nutrition.

Keywords: Proximate, mineral, vitamin, non-nutrient, processing, pawpaw.