Sweet potatoes, a nutrient-dense crop are recognized as a potential functional food to mitigate an array of nutritional disorders. In India, sweet potato is considered a secondary staple crop due to its unique nutritional properties. Owing to its high consumption, food interventions like biofortification have been made to enrich the essential bioactive compounds (carotenoids and anthocyanins). The current study highlighted the nutritional, anti-nutritional and mineral analysis of farmer-grown biofortified sweet potatoes i.e., Bhusona and Bhu-Krishna varieties and compares them with officially available data. High antioxidant activity was observed in Bhu-Krishna with 40 mg followed by Bhu-Sona and white flesh (unfortified variety) (19.3 and 18.7 mg/100 g dry basis). The total carotenoid content ranged from 0.9 to 12.6 mg/100 g dry weight, with the highest content in BhuSona. The anti-nutritional content like phytates and tannins in sweet potato cultivars ranged between 57.35 and 60.82%. However, the antinutrient content was comparatively high in selected biofortified varieties, establishing research prospects concerning human health. These results provide insights into the suitability of biofortified varieties for inclusion in diets that are nutritionally adequate and have sufficient nutritional information for policymakers to promote these varieties to the vulnerable.
Read full abstract