Vitamin Profile, Anti-nutritional Composition and Sensory Acceptability of Maize–Soybean–Tiger Nut Complementary Food

Abstract

Complementary feeding is a critical period in infant nutrition because nutrient requirements increase from about six months of age, when breast milk alone becomes insufficient to meet the nutritional needs of a growing child. This study evaluated the vitamin composition, selected anti-nutritional factors, and sensory properties of complementary food formulated from maize (Zea mays L.), soybean (Glycine max L.) and tiger nut (Cyperus esculentus L.). Fermented maize flour was blended with tiger-nut and soybean flours at ratios of 100:0:0 (M), 80:10:10 (MTS1), 70:15:15 (MTS2), 60:20:20 (MTS3) and 50:25:25 (MTS4). The samples were evaluated for vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B6, folate and E, selected anti-nutritional factors and sensory characteristics using standard analytical procedures. Vitamin concentrations generally increased significantly (p < 0.05) with increasing incorporation of soybean and tiger nut. Vitamin A increased from 12.50 µg/100 g in M to 37.50 µg/100 g in MTS4, while thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, folate and vitamin E increased from 0.18 to 0.34 mg/100 g, 0.08 to 0.20 mg/100 g, 1.85 to 3.25 mg/100 g, 0.20 to 0.40 mg/100 g, 18.50 to 35.50 µg/100 g and 0.65 to 1.85 mg/100 g, respectively. Tannin content increased from 0.02 to 0.11 g/100 g, while phytic acid increased from 0.16 to 0.34 g/100 g as supplementation increased. Despite these increases, the measured anti-nutritional factors remained relatively low. Sensory evaluation showed a progressive decline in most attributes with increasing supplementation. Overall acceptability decreased from 8.30 in M to 6.40 in MTS4, while MTS1 recorded 7.10. The results demonstrate that soybean and tiger nut can improve the vitamin density of maize-based complementary food, although higher inclusion levels may reduce sensory acceptance. The blend containing 80% maize, 10% tiger nut and 10% soybean (MTS1) provided a relatively favourable balance between nutritional improvement and sensory acceptability and may therefore be useful for further development of locally produced complementary food.