Nutrient and anti-nutrient composition of yellow maize, soybean and datepalm floursfortified with moringa seeds and ginger and sensory evaluation of their gruels

Abstract

Background: Gruel is used as complementary food for infants, breakfast cereal for adults and recovery meal for invalids and convalescents.

Objective: The study evaluated the effect of soybean, date palm, moringa seeds and ginger fortification on the nutritional value and sensory properties of maize gruel.

Methods: The samples were obtained from Relief market, Imo State, Nigeria. Maize was fermented for 48hrs, sundried for three days, milled and sieved. Soybean was soaked overnight, boiled, air-dried for two days, roasted at 70℃ for 30mins, milled and sieved. Moringa seeds were dehulled, winnowed, cleaned and milled. Ginger was peeled, sliced into 2mm thickness, fermented for 24hrs, oven dried at 55℃ for 72hrs and milled. Three samples (B-D) were formulated using different ratios of maize (60:30:50), soybean (30:40:20) and date palm (6.5: 16:5: 26.5) flours while moringa seed (3g) and ginger (0.5g) flours were constant. A commercial food (A) was used as control. Nutrient and anti-nutrient evaluations were carried out on both the formulated blends and the control while sensory properties were done using the gruels made with the samples. Statistical product and service solution version 21 was used to analyze for means and standard deviation; ANOVA was used to separate the means and Turkey test to compare the means. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.

Results: Moisture, crude fat, protein, and fibre was significantly (p < 0.05) higher in the sample C. Calcium, magnesium and vitamin C were also significantly higher in the sample C, while iron and zinc were higher in the sample A and vitamin A in the sample B. Phytic acid and oxalates was significantly (p < 0.05) higher in sample B. Sample D was significantly (p < 0.05) rated higher in sensory properties than the samples B and C and no significant (p < 0.05) difference was observed in sensory properties of the samples D and A.

Conclusion: The formulated gruels had improved nutrient content. Sample D was generally more acceptable.

Keywords: Fortification, gruels, moringa seeds, date palm, ginger