COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF MINERALS AND VITAMINS COMPOSITION IN A DEVELOPED DEPLOYABLE BABY FOOD AND OTHER COMMERCIAL BABY FORMULAS (6-24 MONTHS)

The nutritional adequacy of micronutrients depends on their amount and bioavailability in the complementary foods. The aim of this study is to develop a cost effective, nutritious, homemade homogeneous blend of locally available food ingredients into a complementary baby food for 6-24 months of age that will be acceptable, deployable and prevent malnutrition in this age bracket. Two baby food formulas were developed based on protein contents of available food commodities: DFA (Yellow corn 60%, Soya beans 20%, Groundnut 15% and Crayfish 5%) and DFB (Yellow corn 65%, Soya beans 15%, Groundnut 15% and Crayfish 5%). Standard procedures of the AOAC (2016) and other methods were used to determine the micronutrient contents (minerals and vitamins) of the foods. The mean± standard error of mean for iron, zinc, calcium, sodium, potassium, magnesium and phosphorus contents of the DFA respectively are; (6.73±0.01), (3.24±0.02), (180.72±0.23), (135.74±0.00), (385.65±0.17), (31.51±0.26) and (350.80.37±1.57) while for DFB they are; (6.79±0.17), (3.53±0.01), (150.93±0.34), (132.81±0.05), (365.83±0.03), (32.27±0.16) and (354.37±2.23) respectively which showed a significant difference (p<0.05) with the control baby food. Vitamins A, B1, B9, C and E for DFA from the analysis are respectively: (1391.38±3.15), (3.76±0.04), (20.21±0.06), (13.67±0.41) and (4.74±0.10) while for DFB are: (1072.48±7.97), (3.34±0.08), (22.15±0.16), (11.52±0.00) and (3.82±0.11) respectively which also showed significant difference with the control baby food. Samples were also rated using a 9-point hedonic scale range from “like extremely” (9) to “dislike extremely” (1) for sensory evaluation but showed no significant difference statistically with the control baby food. The study revealed that it is possible to prepare nutritionally adequate and acceptable complementary diet (rich in vitamins and minerals) from readily available and affordable food commodities.