Abstract
Compositing complementary flours with legumes of high protein quality such as soy can be effective in abating Protein Energy Malnutrition. Soy-fortified complementary flours were developed using locally available foods from Western Kenya and used to determine the fortification effect on protein nutritional quality, growth, and rehabilitation. Ten isonitrogenous diets containing 10% protein and one containing 20% protein were formulated from six foods; maize, pearl millet, finger millet, sorghum, cassava, and banana at ratios of 70:30 flour and soy with milk powder as control and fed to weanling male albino rats. Another group was fed on a protein free diet. Banana: Soy diet had significantly superior protein nutritional quality while Maize: soy had 70% Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score. True Protein Digestibility of the fortified diets lay within the acceptable margin for cereal: bean mixtures. Fortification with soy improved protein quality indices of flours in rats, and by extrapolation could support growth of young children if used as complementary foods.
Highlights
Millions of children in the tropical, subtropical, and least developed areas of the world suffer from malnutrition with those at the complementary feeding stage being most vulnerable (Onofiok & Nnanyelugo, 2012; Rai, Rai and Pandey, 2007)
A food with a higher Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER) is deemed superior to a food that yields a lower PER
Low PER was recorded in the basal diet because it had no protein content
Summary
Millions of children in the tropical, subtropical, and least developed areas of the world suffer from malnutrition with those at the complementary feeding stage being most vulnerable (Onofiok & Nnanyelugo, 2012; Rai, Rai and Pandey, 2007). This is because their macro and micro-nutrient needs might not be sufficiently provided for in the complementary foods (Bukusuba, Isabiry & Nampala, 2008; Joseph & Swanson, 1993). In Western Kenya, this situation is aggravated by poverty which stands at 57.9% for rural areas and 37.9% for the urban settlers (Kenya National Bureau of Statistics [KNBS], 2009)
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