ABSTRACT

The vitamin and mineral composition of bread supplemented with sunflower seeds were assessed in this study. Breads were processed from different flour blends of whet and whole sunflower seed: 00:0, 95:5, 90:10, 85:15 and 80:20, respectively. Bread processed with 100% wheat flour served as the control. The mineral and vitamin contents of the bread samples were evaluated using standard laboratory procedures. The data generated were statistically analyzed by One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and significant differences detected using Least Significant Difference at 95% confidence level (p<0.05). The results of mineral evaluation showed the calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium contents of the breads ranged from 31.07 to 49.98 mg/100g, 11.85 to 185.45 mg/100g, 0.13 to 1.34 mg/100g and 103.10 to 128.65 mg/100g, respectively. The vitamin contents of the bread samples disclosed the presence of pro-vitamin A (0.02 to 0.04 mg/100g), vitamin B1 (0.04 to 0.05 mg/100g), vitamin B2 (25.45 to 28.17 mg/100g) and vitamin E (3.40 to 7.87 mg/100g). It was found that incorporation of sunflower seed flour enhanced the phosphorus, potassium, pro-vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2 and vitamin E contents of the wheat-based breads thus, indicating that its intake will be quite beneficial to consumers especially in proper growth and development. On the other hand, the calcium and magnesium contents of the bread samples were found to decrease as a result of its supplementation with sunflower seed flour. Therefore, processing of bread from 95% wheat flour and 5% whole sunflower seed flour is recommended especially for those who are deficient in calcium, magnesium, vitamin B2, vitamin E, among others.