ABSTRACT

This study aimed to assess the mineral and phytochemical content of sorghum flour enriched with groundnut paste. The sorghum and groundnut that was used for this project was purchased at Orie Ugba Market in Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia state and stored at room temperature before processing. The sorghum grains were cleaned, dried and milled into flour. The sorghum flour were mixed with pre-treated groundnut paste in the ratio of 50:50, 60:40, 70:30, 80:20, 100:0 and were stored in an air tight nylon at room temperature. The mineral and anti-nutrients compositions of the samples were determined. Mineral contents of the formulated diet ranged from 87.60mg/100g to 84.92mg/100g, 90.67mg/100g to 10.95mg/100g, 466.37mg/100g to 249.00mg/100g, 32.80mg/100g to 23.53mg/100g, 214.80mg/100g to 59.73mg/100g for calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium and phosphorous, respectively. The result showed no significant differences (p>0.05) in the calcium content. Sample A(50% Sorghum enriched with 50% groundnut paste) had the highest (87.60mg/l00g) calcium content whereas sample E (100% Sorghum Flour) had the lowest (84.92 mg/l00g) calcium content. The result showed variations of significant differences (p<0.05) in the Magnesium content. Sample A had the highest (90.67mg/100g) Mg content while sample E had the least (10.95mg/100g) Mg content. Magnesium was found to increase with increasing groundnut substitution. The phosphorus content of the blend was highest in sample A with 214.80mg/100g and lowest in sample E with 59.73mg/100g. Sodium was highest in sorghum flour and decreased in content as the addition of groundnut paste raised the phosphorus content of the composite flours from 59.73mg/l00g in the 100% sorghum to 214.80mg/l00g in the 100% sorghum to 214.80mg/l00g in the 50:50 blend. Nutrition education should be encouraged to teach people the nutritional importance and benefits of sorghum and groundnut with respect to the roles these grains of cereals and legumes play in food availability and their potential to alleviate poverty because of their diverse range of positive attributes which includes protein energy malnutrition eradication. In conclusion, enriching complementary food with sorghum and groundnut improves the nutritional value and also reduces the dependence on complementary foods made from single blend.