Evaluation of Blended Cooking Banana (Musa spp) and Soybean (Glycinemax (L.) Merrill) as Food Complement for Infants

Abstract

This work evaluated infant complementary food based on cooking banana (Musa Spp.; popularly called 'unere nkpunkpu' in igbo dialect) and Soybean (Glycine max L. merrill) flours. The flours were blended in various proportions (80:20 (CSA), 60:40(CSB) and 40:60(CSC)). Aliquots of blend were taken for proximate analysis, vitamins and minerals determination. Twenty mothers were used for the sensory evaluation. In the proximate analysis, the ash, fat and crude protein values were higher (P<0.05) than the controls while the controls had higher (P<0.05) carbohydrates and energy values in dry weight matter. The mineral and vitamin determination indicate that iron, sodium, pro-vitamin A values of some of the mixes were higher than the controls. The controls had higher (P<0.05) values in vitamin C and calcium. There was no significant difference in their phosphorus levels. The porridges were mixed with water, cooked and sweetened with sugar to taste and presented to the panel (mothers). The results of the sensory evaluation showed that there were no significant differences (P>0.05) in colour, taste, texture and the overall acceptability. It could be concluded therefore that other sources of phosphorus and vitamins when added to the porridge could make better meal than the controls. The results also showed that the formulated porridges were naturally richer than the controls in some nutrients. With the satisfactory nutritive value and functional characteristics of the composite flours, they can be recommended to the infants and young children.