Formulation and evaluation of a supplementary food ( Panjiri ) using wheat and flaxseed flour composites: Micronutrients, antioxidants, and heavy metals content

Abstract

In the present study, wheat flour was blended with varying proportions of flaxseed flour (0%–25%) for the formulation of supplementary food (Panjiri) with better nutritional characteristics. This will also add variety to supplementary foods being given to malnourished children. The ash, fat, protein, and fiber contents of Panjiri made from flour composites were 0.82–1.27, 1.60–8.32, 8.76–9.81, and 1.18%–2.54%, respectively. Nutritional components enhanced significantly (p ≤ .05) with increasing addition of flaxseed flour and Panjiries became darker in color with decreased yellowness. Zn and Cu concentration increased with an increase in flaxseed flour in Panjiri. Heavy metals (Cr and Cd) were detected in very low concentrations. Antioxidant activity, reducing power, total phenolic and total flavonoids contents of Panjiries ranged between 14.73%–21.08%, 982–1,259.11 µg AAE/g, 205.45–452.73 µg FAE/g, and 17.95–448.72 µg CE/g, respectively. Sensory evaluation scores revealed that flaxseed flour can be incorporated upto 15% in Panjiri to achieve better nutritional attributes and good acceptability scores. Practical applications Supplementary food is necessary to overcome malnutrition and related complications. Many types of supplementary foods, which are available are quite expensive and the parents belonging to middle and lower income groups are unable to afford them. Hence, children in these families have to consume the foods that adults eat. Preparation of supplementary foods such as Panjiri on home‐scale provides a better option in combating malnutrition problems. These foods may be formulated with oilseeds (flaxseed), which can enhance their nutritional qualities to desired levels. The nutraceutical components found in different cereals and oilseeds might be helpful in curing chronic health problems and other related co‐morbidities. In addition, home‐scale formulations of Panjiri can also be easily afforded by middle class and low‐income families.

Composition, processing, and quality control of whole flaxseed products used to fortify foods

“…Impact of flaxseed on the nutritional value of foods Whole flaxseed (flour) is often added into foods to improve their nutritional properties. Typically, addition of flaxseed into foods increases their abundances of ACA, dietary fibers, essential amino acids, minerals, phenolic compounds, flavonoids, and so forth (Hussain et al, 2012;Karwasra et al, 2020;Kaur et al, 2019;Menteş et al, 2008;Zhu & Li, 2019). After 10% of flaxseed supplementation, the ACA content in bread reached around 1.5 g per 100 g of bread (Marpalle et al, 2015).…”

“…During the early stages of seed development, the contents of γ‐tocopherols in different flaxseed varieties increased steadily, and reached the maximum under different DAF conditions (Herchi et al., 2011). Flaxseed is also a good source of minerals (Karwasra et al., 2020), including potassium (5600–9200 mg/100 g), phosphorous (650 mg/100 g), magnesium (350−431 mg/100 g), and calcium (236−250 mg/100 g), while containing low levels of sodium (27 mg/100 g) (Kajla et al., 2015). Many aforementioned components can be effectively accumulated during flaxseed germination due to the activation of key metabolic enzymes or cofactors (Herchi et al., 2011; Huang et al., 2021).…”

Formulation and evaluation of Indian traditional sweet Panjiri substituted with pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.)

“…S2 possessing the lowest value (60.54%) and S1 the highest (62.57%). In the earlier study by (Karwasra et al, 2021) [17] , the moisture, ash, protein, fat, fibre and carbohydrates content of wheat flour panjiri was identified to be 1.24, 0.82, 8.76, 13.60, 1.18 and 87.57%, respectively. In the study of (Salve et al, 2011) [31] , the results of proximate analysis of wheat flour panjiri was moisture 1.52%, ash 0.72%, protein 12.2%, fat 13.91%, fiber 1.31% and carbohydrates 71.20%.…”

“…Amongst a huge variety of these Indian sweets, some are still not as popular as others. Panjiri is one such traditional sweet made from wheat flour and sugar and is prepared during festivals like Janmasthmi as Prasad (Karwasra et al, 2021) [17] . Panjiri is usually prepared from the blend of cereals such as wheat, rice and maize with sugar, ghee and various dry fruits.…”

“…~ 326 ~ But these cereals are comparatively low in protein and it is also well known that cereal based foods are low in energy and nutrient density (Baskran et al, 1999) [6] . Substituting panjiri with millet, which are nutritionally rich as compared to cereals and provides minerals, fibers, vitamins and are gluten free as well, can play an important role in enhancing the overall nutritional quality of panjiri, (Kaur et al, 2021) [17] . Millet is a generic term used for cereal species having small sized grains, almost around one quarter to one tenth the size of wheat kernels, which form heterogeneous group and referred along with maize and sorghum as "coarse cereals" (Taylor, 2017) [33] .…”