Assessment of Protein Quality of Complementary Food Made from Maize (Zea mays) Supplemented with Crayfish (Euastacus spp) and Carrot (Daucus carota) Using Albino Rats

Abstract

Background: Assessment of protein quality is aimed at determining the ability of a protein to meet up with the needs for maintenance, growth, pregnancy and lactation.
 Objective: To evaluate the protein quality of complementary food made from local food blends using albino rats.
 Methods: Maize, carrot, crayfish, milk and other ingredients were purchased, processed and used for the study. The maize, crayfish and carrot flours were blended in the ratio of 100:0:0, 70:25:5, 70:20:10, 70:15:15, 70:10:20 and 70:5:25 respectively. The six diets provided 10% protein for six groups of rats. The diets were fed to forty (40) weanling albino rats in a 21-day growth period and 7-days Nitrogen balance study. Milk was used as control and Nitrogen free diet was used for the estimation of endogenous nitrogen. The result generated were statistically analyzed using SPSS version 22.
 Results: The result showed that over 70% of the nitrogen consumed by all the five groups of rats fed the mixed diets were absorbed and retained. Among the test diet groups, the 70:20:10 diet had the highest absorbed nitrogen (2.10 g), retained nitrogen (2.00 g), biological value (80%) and net protein utilization (77%) which was significantly different from the other groups. The 70:20:10 diet had the highest Total digestibility (94%), highest food intake (230g), weight gain (52.10%) and PER (2.7) that were comparable with the reference protein (milk) at (p>0.05). The mineral metabolism of all the rats fed the test diets were absorbed and retained.
 Conclusion: The study revealed that complementary food of high protein quality and nutrient dense can be produced from blends of maize, carrot and crayfish. All the complementary food made from blends of maize, carrot and crayfish blend were of higher nutrient quality than the popular homemade complementary food made of maize alone. It is imperative that blends of local foods stuffs should be used as complementary food instead of only cereal in order to improve the nutritional status of a growing child and also curb prevalence of protein energy malnutrition that is common among under five.

Nutritional quality assessment of optimized cereal- based complementary foods fortified with Moringa oleifera

“…The high TPD of the rats fed the experimental diets is an indication that proteins in these diets are highly digestible. It is pertinent to note that a protein source may contain all the essential amino acids; but if it cannot be digested and absorbed for protein biosynthesis then it is worthless (Umerah et al, 2020) [28] .…”

“…Biological value measures protein quality by calculating the nitrogen used for tissue formation divided by the nitrogen absorbed from food. The biological value provides a measurement of how efficient the body utilizes protein consumed in the diet (Umerah et al, 2020) [28] . Biological value evaluates the competence of protein to support growth through nitrogen holding in the body.…”

“…This also confirms report from the previous phase of this study that the test diets supported growth and recovery in children with PEM. Umerah et al (2020) [28] opined that NPU and biological value are alike. The duo measures the same parameter of nitrogen retention.…”

“…The duo measures the same parameter of nitrogen retention. However, the disparity lies in the fact that while biological value is calculated from the amount of nitrogen absorbed; net protein utilization is estimated from nitrogen ingested (Umerah et al, 2020) [28] . Net protein utilization of 65 and above suggests that appreciable quantity of essential amino acid which is crucial for the body for proper growth of cells and tissues.…”

Evaluation of nutritional quality of complementary foods formulated from blends of Nigerian yellow maize (Zea mays), soybean (Glycine max) and crayfish (Procambarus clarkii)

“…Similar to other developing countries, CFs in Nigeria are usually produced from staple cereals 10,11 . The staple cereals, maize, millet and guinea corn, which are commonly consumed by all economic classes of Nigerians, do contain low‐quality protein and high antinutritional factors 12 . Therefore, a combination of cereals with inexpensive legumes can be used to improve the nutritional adequacy of cereals 7,4 .…”