Cereal Proteins Research Articles

Use of Chou’s 5-steps Rule to Study the Effect of Cereal Dietary Protein on Liver and Coronary Heart Disease Prevention

Background: The liver is a vital organ in the human body involved in the metabolic processes. The liver can be damaged due to factors such as protein deficiency, viral infection, as well as consumption of alcohol, chemical contaminants, and adulterated food. High blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, lack of exercise, poor diet, obesity and cigarette smoking are the major risk factors for stroke, heart attack and coronary heart disease (CHD). In medical science, several synthetic drugs have been discovered and used for the treatment of people suffering from liver injury and CHD, but these are not always effective and sometimes difficult to manage by medical therapies and also found to be accompanied by other side effects. Objective: The study aimed to critically review the recent research and studies of epidemiological and randomized controlled trials to find out the effective cereal protein as an alternative preventive food to reduce the risk of CHD and protect the liver from viral hepatic diseases, focusing on daily food intake, body weight, liver weight, serum enzyme activities and cholesterols. Methods: A few of the data from our experiment were used. A literature search was performed for a reliable source of published research articles, review papers, and epidemiological and randomized controlled trials on the effects of cereal protein on animals and human intervention on Google, Google scholar, Redcube, Endnote, Scopus, SpringerDirect.com, PubMed and Web of Science. Then, the data was organized, summarized and analyzed. Results: In medical science, serum enzyme activities of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and lipid peroxidation stress malondialdehyde (MDA) are commonly used as biochemical markers of the liver-damaging agents. Blood cholesterols (total cholesterol-TC, triglyceride-TG, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol-LDLC and highdensity lipoprotein cholesterol-HDLC) are used as the markers of heart diseases. The review shows that daily food intake and body weight data are not significantly differed among normal diet, casein (CAS) and cereals protein. The millet and wheat protein increase the liver weight, whereas the rice protein lowers the liver weight. The intake of cereal protein significantly reduces the activities of serum AST, ALT, LDH, MDA, TC, TG and LDLC, whereas it increases the HDLC. Conclusion: Experimental, review and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) data confirm that cereal protein appears to be beneficial in reducing the hepatic liver injury and CHD by maintaining body weight, liver weight, blood pressure, serum enzyme activities of AST, ALT and LDH, lipid peroxidation stress MDA and cholesterol concentrations both in plasma and liver.

PSIX-2 Amino acid digestibility and digestible indispensable amino acid scores of a few protein isolates and concentrates derived from cereal grains, plant proteins, or dairy proteins

Abstract The objective of this experiment was to determine standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of amino acid (AA) and digestible indispensable amino acid scores (DIAAS) for brown rice protein concentrate (BRPC), pea protein concentrate (PPC), two rapeseed protein isolates (RSP-1 and RSP-2), soy protein isolate (SPI), and whey protein isolate (WPI). Seven cannulated barrows (36.51 ± 1.61 kg) were randomly allotted to a 7 × 7 Latin square design and fed a diet containing each protein as the sole source of AA. A nitrogen-free diet was also used. The DIAAS was calculated for children from 6-mo to 3-yr and persons >3-yr. Data were analyzed using PROC MIXED of SAS in a randomized complete block design with pigs as the experimental unit. Among proteins, WPI had the greatest (P < 0.05) SID of all indispensable AA (IAA), except Lys and Thr, and RSP-1 had the least (P < 0.05) SID of most IAA. The SID of all AA, except Leu and Met, did not differ between RSP-2 and SPI, and the SID of all IAA, except Arg and Lys, was greater (P < 0.05) for RSP-2 than for PPC and BRPC. For DIAAS (Table 1), RSP-2 was the only protein with a DIAAS greater than 100 for children 6-mo to 3-yr, and both RSP-2 and WPI had a DIAAS greater than 100 for persons >3-yr. For both reference patterns, the DIAAS for RSP-2 and WPI was greater (P < 0.05) than for SPI. The DIAAS for RSP-1 was less (P < 0.05) than for SPI and greater (P < 0.05) than for PPC, which had a DIAAS greater (P < 0.05) than BRPC. In conclusion, RSP-2 resulted in an excellent quality protein for persons >6-mo, and WPI is an excellent quality protein for persons >3-yr.

Scale up fractionation of components from novel glabrous brown and yellow canary seeds (Phalaris canariensis L.) and techno-functional properties of the resulting protein isolates

Glabrous canary seed (Phalaris canariensis L.) is a novel true cereal grain produced primarily in Western Canada which has been approved for human consumption by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Health Canada in 2016. Due to its high protein content (22%), this new edible grain is emerging as an alternative source of plant proteins. In the present work, protein extractability from four novel glabrous (2 yellow and 2 brown) canary seeds varieties was improved based on the selection of optimal pH of protein solubilisation and precipitation. Solubilisation at pH 12 followed by acid precipitation at pH 5 were retained as optimal conditions. Scale up of the protein optimized wet fractionation process resulted in highly purified canary seed protein isolates (purity of 91 to 93%) with protein recovery yield of 65 to 69%. In parallel, for the others canary seed components, a good recovery yields were obtained for the oil fraction (6.1–6.7 g/100 g flour), starch fraction (48.1–54 g/100 g flour), and crude fiber fraction (15.1–19.7 g/100 g flour). The study of the functional properties of the obtained canary protein isolates revealed, higher solubility at acidic than alkaline region; enhanced fat and water holding capacities and notably higher foaming and emulsifying capacities than control soy protein isolate. With growing global demand for protein, glabrous canary seed has high potential in the food industry, particularly as a good source of functional gluten free cereal proteins.

Microbiome of root vegetables\u2014a source of gluten-degrading bacteria

Gluten is a cereal protein that is incompletely digested by human proteolytic enzymes that create immunogenic peptides that accumulate in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT). Although both environmental and human bacteria have been shown to expedite gluten hydrolysis, gluten intolerance is a growing concern. Here we hypothesize that together with food, we acquire environmental bacteria that could impact our GIT with gluten-degrading bacteria. Using in vitro gastrointestinal simulation conditions, we evaluated the capacity of endophytic bacteria that inhabit root vegetables, potato (Solanum tuberosum), carrot (Daucus sativus), beet (Beta vulgaris), and topinambur (Jerusalem artichoke) (Helianthus tuberosus), to resist these conditions and degrade gluten. By 16S rDNA sequencing, we discovered that bacteria from the families Enterobacteriaceae, Bacillaceae, and Clostridiaceae most effectively multiply in conditions similar to the human GIT (microoxic conditions, 37 °C) while utilizing vegetable material and gluten as nutrients. Additionally, we used stomach simulation (1 h, pH 3) and intestinal simulation (1 h, bile salts 0.4%) treatments. The bacteria that survived this treatment retained the ability to degrade gluten epitopes but at lower levels. Four bacterial strains belonging to species Bacillus pumilus, Clostridium subterminale, and Clostridium sporogenes isolated from vegetable roots produced proteases with postproline cleaving activity that successfully neutralized the toxic immunogenic epitopes.Key points• Bacteria from root vegetables can degrade gluten.• Some of these bacteria can resist conditions mimicking gastrointestinal tract.

Gluten consumption may contribute to worldwide obesity prevalence

Gluten consumption has been controversially associated with obesity in previous studies. We sought to examine this association at the worldwide level.
 Country specific data were obtained from 168 countries. Scatter plots, bivariate, partial correlation and multiple linear regression models were used to explore and compare the coincidence between obesity prevalence and consumption of gluten, non-gluten cereal protein and total cereal protein respectively. The established risk factors of obesity: caloric intake, sedentary lifestyle, urbanization, socioeconomic status, meat protein intake and sugar consumption were included in analyses as potential confounders. The 168 countries were also stratified into developing and developed country groupings for further examination of the relationships.
 Worldwide, bivariate correlation analyses revealed that the strength and direction of correlations between all variables (independent, dependent and potential confounders) were at similar levels. Obesity prevalence was positively correlated to gluten consumption but was negatively correlated to consumption of non-gluten cereal protein, and was in almost nil correlation to total cereal protein consumption. These relationships were similar across all countries (n= 168), developed country grouping (N=44) and devel­oping country grouping (n=124). When caloric intake, Gross Domestic Product at Purchasing Power Parity, sedentary lifestyle and urbanization were kept statistically constant in the partial correlation analysis, obesity was significantly correlated to gluten consumption in all countries, developed country grouping and developing country grouping, and was significantly but inversely and weakly correlated to non-gluten cereal protein in all countries and developing countries, and was in almost nil correlation to total cereal protein in all country groupings. Globally, stepwise multiple regression analysis, when all the independent variables and potential confounding factors were included, selected consumption of sugar as the variable having the greatest influence on obesity with R2 = 0.510, while gluten was placed second increasing R2 to 0.596.
 Gluten consumption may have been emerging as an inconspicuous, but significant cause of obesity. While Westernization has driven the diet patterns worldwide to incorporate more gluten crops, obesity prevalence projection methods may estimate future obesity rates poorly if gluten consumption is not considered.

Product development with the enrichment of fenugreek seeds for celiac disease (CD)

Celiac disease (CD) is an autoimmune disorder in which the inability to digest cereals protein gluten. Patients may suffer from malabsorption diarrhea, abdominal pain, anemia, osteoporosis, and failure to thrive. Either CD is a genetic disorder but diet could play an important role to control from pathogenic symptoms. The susceptible person's slow growth rate, it also affects the productive life and also produces low immunity. The present study aimed to develop a gluten-free diet for celiac disease and analyses the acceptability by hedonic rating scale at 9 point scale, like extremely to dislike extremely. The study has done with the enrichment of fenugreek seeds to the preparation of fermented food Idli for celiac patients. Idli batter is prepared by soaking raw milled rice and decorticated black gram for 4 hour at 30 ± 1 °C in water. The soaked mass was ground using a mixer grinder with adequate amount of water. Fenugreek seeds contain protein, with the mixing of other pulses the quality of proteins enhances. Fenugreek seeds also contain mucilaginous fiber which is good for health promotion growth, improves immunity.

Dietary Proteins Alter Fermentation Characteristics of Human Gut Microbiota In Vitro.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the fermentation characteristics of proteins from diverse sources by human gut microbiota. Cereal proteins (rice and oat), red meat proteins (pork and beef), chicken protein and casein were selected as the substrates for simulated gastrointestinal digestion (SGID), and human faecal samples were collected from healthy donors as the inoculum of fermentation. In this study, we further analyzed the correlations of amino acids (AA) compositions, fermentation productions and gut microbiota. As the results, the animal protein groups had higher degree of hydrolysis (DH) after digestion and higher levels of ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) after fermentation than cereal proteins. The pH value of fermentation liquid declined as proteins were added during fermentation. Cereal protein groups promoted the gut microbiota to produce more short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) with the high proportion of acetate, propionate and butyrate by lowering the pH than red meat proteins. The abundance of Firmicutes at phylum level in cereal protein groups was lower than red meat proteins after fermentation. The cereal protein groups enhanced the growth of Bacteroides spp. and Bifidobacterium spp. while red meat proteins stimulated the growth of Peptoclostridium spp.. Taken together, our research implies that cereal proteins have better fermentation characters than red meat proteins.

Improved effect of autoclave processing on size reduction, chemical structure, nutritional, mechanical and in vitro digestibility properties of fish bone powder

Global fisheries production has increased up to 200 MT which resulted in 20 MT of waste. Discards or by-products from aquatic processing have remained a big challenge for waste management and their efficient use for human food. In the present study, we prepared fish bone powder (FBP) from grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) using autoclave processing and compared its characteristics with simple heat treatment as well as with size reduction process. The results showed that autoclave processing with reduced particle size significantly (p < 0.05) increased ζ-potential (15.2 mV) and facilitated size reduction (5.2 µm), while only heat treatment improved the proximate composition. The collagen denaturation was followed using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) at 1338 cm−1 peak while amide regions, such as amide I (1590–1720 cm−1), amide II (1560 cm−1) and amide III (1237 cm−1), carbonate (870 cm−1) and phosphate (565 and 1030 cm−1) groups were identified in all treatments. The scanning electron microscopy showed the variation in particle size, and porous structure of FBP. Moreover, calcium and protein in vitro digestibility was significantly high in autoclave processing groups. The results of amino acid analysis at intestinal stage of in vitro model digestion depicted that the concentration of essential amino was higher than the cereal proteins. The results propose the feasibility of using autoclave processing as an alternative to the thermal treatment to prepare FBP.

Characteristics of Potential Protein Nutraceuticals of Plant Origin with Antioxidant Activity.

This study used selected plant proteins and the tools available in the BIOPEP-UWM database to profile proteins and release antioxidant nutraceuticals from their primary structures. The frequency of the occurrence of fragments with antioxidant activity in a protein sequence (the A parameter) was determined. A simulated monocatalytic proteolysis was carried out using ficin or stem bromelain or pepsin (pH > 2), and the theoretical degree of hydrolysis (DHt) and the frequency (including relative frequency) of the release of fragments with a particular antioxidant activity by a selected enzyme (the AE and W parameters, respectively). Both barley hordoindolines and the protein group of “actins and other rice proteins” were characterised by the best antioxidant potential. On the other hand, among the main analysed cereal protein groups or species, the best nutraceutical sources included kafirins, rice glutelins and α-gliadins. Potentially the most nutraceutical molecules were released by pepsin (HL, VY, PHQ and PWQ biopeptides) from gliadins, but the most analysed proteins were hydrolysed (66% on average) and the DHt for ficin and bromelain amounted to 27% and 31%, respectively. However, based on the calculated AE mean values, it can be concluded that nutraceuticals were more frequently released from rice protein structures (IY and VY biopeptides), and less frequently released from barley and other cereal protein species, which may be of significance in the context of designing nutraceutical food.

ITRAQ-Based Proteomic Analysis of Rice Grains.

Cereal proteins have formed the basis of human diet worldwide, and their level of consumption is expected to increase. The knowledge of the protein composition and variation of the cereal grains is helpful for characterizing cereal varieties and to identify biomarkers for tolerance mechanisms. Grains produce a wide array of proteins, differing under conditions. Quantitative proteomics is a powerful approach allowing the identification of proteins expressed under defined conditions that may contribute understanding the complex biological systems of grains. Isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) is a mass spectrometry-based quantitative approach allowing, simultaneously, for protein identification and quantification from multiple samples with high coverage. One of the challenges in identifying grains proteins is their relatively high content (~90-95%) of carbohydrate (starch) and low protein (~4-10%) and lipid (~1%) fractions. In this chapter, we present a robust workflow to carry out iTRAQ quantification of the starchy rice grains.

Pulses in Punjab: growth rate and decomposition analysis

Pulses are an important commodity group of crops that provides high quality protein supplementary cereal proteins for pre-dominantly large vegetarian population of Punjab. The state is known for its contribution of wheat and paddy to the national pool but it lags behind in production of pulses. Keeping this in view present study was undertaken to explore the status of pulses in Punjab with the computation of compound annual growth rate (CAGR) and decomposition analysis. For this purpose the secondary data from year 1985–86 to 2017–18 were taken. The results showed that the CAGR of area and production of total pulses in state showed a significantly negative growth of 6.13 and 5.60 per cent per annum respectively but positive growth (0.61%) was observed in case of yield. The decomposition analysis concluded that area effect (99.48%) was major contributing factor for change in production of total pulses followed by yield effect (3.87%). But interaction effect was found negative (−3.35%). Thus there is need to break the monoculture of wheat and paddy crops and regain the area under pulses by considering their invaluable benefits by providing improved varieties of seeds, pest resistant techniques, extension support, insurance coverage and sustained remunerative market for the produce of pulse growers.

Sensory, physico-chemical, microbial and textural changes in whey protein concentrate based extruded snack food during storage

Extruded snacks are gaining recognition as well as appreciation these days due to their ready-to-eat nature, delicious taste and appealing look. Combination of lysine rich whey protein concentrate with lysine deficient cereal protein has synergistic effect that imparts a high nutritional value to the mixed protein in the product. The milk solids based extruded snack food and control sample were stored at room temperature (37±2 °C) after packaging in MET PET material. The whey protein concentrate based extruded snack food samples and control sample were analyzed for changes in sensory characteristics, physico-chemical properties and textural properties as well as for microbiological quality at 15 days interval. Sensory scores, fracturability for experimental sample and control decreased while moisture, water activity and hardness increased during entire storage period. The Standard plate count decreased while coliform count and yeast and mold count were found absent till 180 days of storage.

Microbial xylanases and their inhibition by specific proteins in cereals

Arabinoxylans (AXs) belong to the components of plant cells which are mainly degraded by microbial xylanases during colonization of grain by phytopathogens. For the defence, cereals contain proteinaceous xylanase inhibitors (XIs), namely xylanase inhibitor protein (XIP), Triticum aestivum xylanase inhibitor (TAXI) and thaumatin-like xylanase inhibitor (TLXI). Their presence in cereals in high levels can be a serious problem in different industrial applications. XIs regulate AX hydrolysis and participate in plant defence mechanisms. XIs have various specificity against microbial xylanases from the glycoside hydrolase (GH) families of GH10 and GH11. Therefore, this review brings new information about the function of XIs as defence responses to pathogen infection of plants and as a problem in plant material processing in different industrial applications.

Genomic analysis of intrinsically disordered proteins in cereals: From mining to meaning

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) are highly abundant in eukaryotic proteomes and involved in key biological and cellular processes. Although some resources of disordered protein predictions are available from animal and plant proteomes, those related to cereals are largely unknown. Here, we present an overview of IDPomes from Oryza sativa, Zea mays, Sorghum bicolor and Brachypodium distachyon. The work includes a comparative analysis with the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. The data show that the intrinsic disorder content increases with the proteome size. Gene Ontology analysis reveals that IDPs in the studied species are involved mainly in regulation of cellular and metabolic processes and responses to stimulus. Our findings strongly suggest that higher plants may use common cellular and regulatory mechanisms for adaptation to various environmental constraints.

The Validation of the Wheat Gluten ELISA Kit.

Background: It is important to analyze the presence of wheat/gluten in food to avoid wheat allergy or celiac disease. Objective: The Wheat/Gluten ELISA kit was developed to measure total wheat protein or gluten content in wheat, barley, and rye cereals as raw materials, and processed foods. Validation as to whether this kit is suitable for quantifying total wheat protein/gluten was carried out. Methods: The Wheat/Gluten ELISA kit was designed as a sandwich ELISA based on antigliadin polyclonal antibody. Selectivity, interference study, matrix study including incurred food, robustness, stability, and lot-to-lot consistency studies were conducted for the Wheat/Gluten ELISA kit. Incurred matrix studies were also conducted in an independent laboratory. Results: The analysis of 38 different substances revealed no cross-reactivity above the LOQ except for oats. Recoveries of the spiked samples were mostly in the range of 75-140%, including an independent laboratory result. The LOD of the ELISA was found to be 0.02-0.16 mg/kg. Robustness testing proved that extraction time and incubation time of first reaction and enzyme reaction had no significant influence on quantified value. The stability at 2-8°C was found to exceed 12 months. Good lot-to-lot consistency was observed. Conclusions: The Wheat/Gluten ELISA kit showed good analytical performance in the quantitative analysis of total wheat protein/gluten in the identified food products using the AOAC Performance Tested Method(s)SM program. Highlights: The Wheat/Gluten ELISA kit was validated and showed good analytical performance in the quantitative analysis of total wheat protein/gluten in food.

Conditions Governing Food Protein Amyloid Fibril Formation-Part I: Egg and Cereal Proteins.

Conditions including heating mode, time, temperature, pH, moisture and protein concentration, shear, and the presence of alcohols, chaotropic/reducing agents, enzymes, and/or salt influence amyloid fibril (AF) formation as they can affect the accessibility of amino acid sequences prone to aggregate. As some conditions applied on model protein resemble conditions in food processing unit operations, we here hypothesize that food processing can lead to formation of protein AFs with a compact cross β-sheet structure. This paper reviews conditions and food constituents that affect amyloid fibrillation of egg and cereal proteins. While egg and cereal proteins often coexist in food products, their impact on each other's fibrillation remains unknown. Hen egg ovalbumin and lysozyme form AFs when subjected to moderate heating at acidic pH separately. AFs can also be formed at higher pH, especially in the presence of alcohols or chaotropic/reducing agents. Tryptic wheat gluten digests can form fibrillar structures at neutral pH and maize and rice proteins do so in aqueous ethanol or at acidic pH, respectively.

Rescue of a plant cytorhabdovirus as versatile expression platforms for planthopper and cereal genomic studies.

Plant viruses have been used as rapid and cost-effective expression vectors for heterologous protein expression in genomic studies. However, delivering large or multiple foreign proteins in monocots and insect pests is challenging. Here, we recovered a recombinant plant cytorhabdovirus, Barley yellow striate mosaic virus (BYSMV), for use as a versatile expression platform in cereals and the small brown planthopper (SBPH, Laodelphax striatellus) insect vector. We engineered BYSMV vectors to provide versatile expression platforms for simultaneous expression of three foreign proteins in barley plants and SBPHs. Moreover, BYSMV vectors could express the c. 600-amino-acid β-glucuronidase (GUS) protein and a red fluorescent protein stably in systemically infected leaves and roots of cereals, including wheat, barley, foxtail millet, and maize plants. Moreover, we have demonstrated that BYSMV vectors can be used in barley to analyze biological functions of gibberellic acid (GA) biosynthesis genes. In a major technical advance, BYSMV vectors were developed for simultaneous delivery of CRISPR/Cas9 nuclease and single guide RNAs for genomic editing in Nicotianabenthamiana leaves. Taken together, our results provide considerable potential for rapid screening of functional proteins in cereals and planthoppers, and an efficient approach for developing other insect-transmitted negative-strand RNA viruses.

Protein Digestibility of Cereal Products.

Protein digestibility is currently a hot research topic and is of big interest to the food industry. Different scoring methods have been developed to describe protein quality. Cereal protein scores are typically low due to a suboptimal amino acid profile and low protein digestibility. Protein digestibility is a result of both external and internal factors. Examples of external factors are physical inaccessibility due to entrapment in e.g., intact cell structures and the presence of antinutritional factors. The main internal factors are the amino acid sequence of the proteins and protein folding and crosslinking. Processing of food is generally designed to increase the overall digestibility through affecting these external and internal factors. However, with proteins, processing may eventually also lead to a decrease in digestibility. In this review, protein digestion and digestibility are discussed with emphasis on the proteins of (pseudo)cereals.

Transcriptome analysis reveals potential roles of a barley ASR gene that confers stress tolerance in transgenic rice

Control of gene expression and induction of cellular protection mechanisms are two important processes that plants employ to protect themselves against abiotic stresses. ABA-, stress, and ripening-induced (ASR) proteins have been identified to participate in such responses. Previous studies have proposed that these proteins can act as transcription factors and as molecular chaperones protecting transgenic plants against stresses; however a gene network regulated by ASRs has not been explored. To expand our knowledge on the function of these proteins in cereals, we present the functional characterization of a barley ASR gene. Expression of HvASR5 was almost ubiquitous in different organs and responded to ABA and to different stress treatments. When expressed ectopically, HvASR5 was able to confer drought and salt stress tolerance to Arabidopsis thaliana and to improve growth performance of rice plants under stress conditions. A transcriptomic analysis with two transgenic rice lines overexpressing HvASR5 helped to identify potential downstream targets and understand ASR-regulated cellular processes. HvASR5 up-regulated the expression of a distinct set of genes associated with stress responses, metabolic processes (particularly carbohydrate metabolism), as well as reproduction and development. These data, together with the confirmed nuclear and cytoplasmic localization of HvASR5, further support the hypothesis that HvASR5 can also carry out roles as molecular protector and transcriptional regulator.

Development of a process to prepare milk based dessert using bottle gourd and rice powder

A combination of milk, vegetable proteins and cereals can effectively enhance the quality of cereal protein, which is normally deficient in essential amino acids. The combination can be used in traditional Indian desserts or side dishes such as Kheer, milk rice or rice pudding and products based on cracked wheat, semolina and vermicelli. The present research work was conducted with the objective of standardizing the process for the development of milk based dessert using bottle gourd and rice powder in various proportions; as also studying its sensory and nutritional properties. The experiment was replicated three times and the data was statistically analyzed by using analysis of variance and critical difference techniques. A combination of 4.5% of milk fat, 5% of bottle gourd and 4% of rice powder was the best combination in terms of overall acceptability. Combination of 1.5% of milk fat, 5% bottle gourd and 4% of rice powder was the best in flavour and taste. While a combination of milk fat 4.5%, 10% bottle gourd and 6 % rice powder had the highest protein, fat, carbohydrate, total solids, ash and energy value on the basis of chemical analysis; but it had a lower percentage of moisture content when compared to combination of milk fat 1.5%, 5% bottle gourd and 4% of rice powder. These combinations can be employed to address malnutrition as per the taste buds of the individual.