Title: Valorization of tropical biofood resources to combat anaemia and vitamin A deficiency
Abstract:
Anaemia and vitamin A deficiency in children and pregnant women are a public health problem in Cameroon. The Cameroon government, with the support of the WHO and UNICEF, is helping to combat these deficiencies by giving vitamin A supplements to children and pregnant and breastfeeding women. There has been an improvement in nutritional status. However, the regular distribution of these supplements is not guaranteed. This has led us to look for effective and sustainable solutions to eradicate the scourge. One of the FAO's alternatives is to promote the consumption of foods rich in these micronutrients. In fact, there are close links between food and the state of health of consumers. You are what you eat'. Carrot (Daucus carota), jackal berry Diopyrus mespiliformis and Canistel (Pouteria campechiana) are sources of minerals and provitamin A. These substances can undergo changes during technological processing. Hence the need to study the influence of these technological treatments on the nutritional composition of foods. Incorporating extracts from these foods into pre-existing foods would seem to be another alternative. Hence the idea of formulating functional foods that could potentially be used to maintain health and manage pathologies. After formulating Co fermented yoghurts with different proportions of carrot juice, the general acceptability score showed that the yoghurt with 90% carrot juice was the highest after the natural yoghurt. The incorporation of this juice leads to an increase in protein, total sugar, crude fibres, ash, vitamin C and β-carotene content, but a decrease in lipid content. Diospyrus mespiliformis pulp improves the nutritional composition of the biscuits, with an increase of almost 50% in iron and 79% in carotenoids. This suggests that this fruit could contribute to the fight against anaemia and vitamin A deficiency. The nectar containing the highest proportion of Puteria campechiana (50%) was the most popular. In the 100ml of nectar 3.5 mg of total carotenoids and 0.3 mg of iron were obtained. Puteria campechiana has an astringent taste witch is attributed to the latex. For further research reducing or eliminating the latex before preparing it is one of our goals along size identifying different carotenoids present in these food stuff.
Audience Take Away Notes:
- The audience will have learned that these fruits and vegetable are potential good sources of several nutrients, particularly provitamin A and iron
- That they can be transformed into powder into juice or nectar which can be consumed as such or incorporated into biscuits or infant flours
- That the processing methods used influence the nutritional quality
- Therefore, these foods are candidates for use in the manufacturing of functional foods
- Considering the state that you are what you eat. It is always good to know what you are eating
- The knowledge gain will be useful for the transformation or incorporation for better health
- Other faculty can use this to expand their research. For example, study the Carotenoid profile by HPLC, Study the bioavailability of beta carotene and the iron and study the removal of latex in Pouteria
- This data will enter the food composition table and therefore can be used if necessary. The CAE (Water Absorption Capacity) showed good solubility in water and therefore can be well used in food technology
