ABSTRACT

Although protein rich complementary foods produced from animal milk are good complementary foods for infants, low nutrient gruels are commonly used as complementary foods in developing countries due to high cost of milk in most developing countries. Local rice grains (Oryza sativa), Soya bean grains (Glycine max) and Moringa oleifera leaves were used to formulate a complementary food. The cereal and legume were made into flour and the leaves was made into powder using lOcal processing methods. Four complementary diets in the proportion of 70:25:5 (Sample 101), 60:35:5 (Sample 201), 60;30:10 (Sample 301) and 50:40:10 (Sample 401) were formulated. Standard chemical methods were used to analyze their proximate, mineral, vitamin and anti-nutrient compositions. The sensory properties of the formulations were also determined. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Duncan's multiple range test, with the level of significance set at p <0.05. These formulated diets showed superiority over the control diet in their protein content which was 21.04%, 18.16%, 15.27% and 13.44% respectively following the ratio above against 6.8 1% for pap. On the other hand, pap (the control diet) recorded 3.88mg of iron while the study diets had higher iron levels of 4.92mg for 70:25:5 (sample 101), 5.40mg for 60:35:5 (sample 201), 5.81mg for 60:30:10 (sample 301) and 6.02mg for 50:40:10 (sample 401). The beta carotene and vitamin C values met the recommended levels for complementary foods with sample 50:40:10 (sample 401) having the highest beta carotene and vitamin C values (188.53mg and 46.18mg respectively). Sensory characteristics showed that the porridges were generally liked. Sample 70:25:5 (Sample 101) had the highest score (3.9) than sample 60:35:5 (sample 201), sample 60:30:10 (sample 301) and sample 50:40:10 (sample 401) which had 3.6, 2.9 and 3.3 respectively. The diets can be used by urban and rural mothers to feed infants during complementary feeding periods and have great potential in substituting more expensive commercial formula products while solving the problem of protein energy malnutrition.