Chemical evaluation of unripe plantain dishes commonly consumed by type 2 diabetics attending the university of Uyo Teaching Hospital in Akwa lbom state, Nigeria

Abstract

This study evaluated the chemical composition of unripe plantain dishes commonly consumed by Type-2 diabetics attending the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Akvva lbom, Nigeria. Groups of type 2 diabetic patients were engaged in a focus group discussion to identify the plantain dishes commonly prepared and their recipes. The groups mentioned many plantain dishes but five of them were randomly selected for preparation. The ingredients for preparation of the unripe plantain dishes were purchased from a market in Uyo. The proximate, mineral and antinutrient composition of the dishes were analyzed using standards methods. Means and standard deviation of the triplicate determination was determined and analysis of variance was used to separate the means. The results showed that Unripe plantain flour had the highest carbohydrate content (76.96%) while unripe plantain flour meal with vegetable soup had the highest protein and ash content. All the plantain dishes had low levels of minerals. The saponin (2.54%) and tannin (0.08%) levels of the unripe plantain flour was the highest when compared with the other plantain dishes. There is need to educate the diabetics on the nutrient content of plantain based dishes and encourage them to diversify their diets. © Asian Network for Scientific Information, 2014.