Determination of amino Acid content and protein quality of complementary food produced from locally available food materials in ondo state, Nigeria.

Protein-energy malnutrition is increasing among children in developing countries due to low nutrient density of traditional complementary diets. Therefore, this study aimed at determining the protein quality of a complementary food produced from cooking banana fruits and bambara groundnut seeds. The cooking banana and bambara groundnut seeds are locally available in both urban and villages markets in Nigeria. The cooking bananas (CB) and bambara groundnut (BG) seeds were processed into flours using standard procedure. The flours were mixed in a ratio of 70:30 (CBR1) and 60:40 (CBR2) of CB and BG respectively. A commercial weaning food (Nutrend) and traditional weaning food, ogi(corn gruel), were used as control food samples. The amino acid content and protein quality of the food samples were determined using standard procedures. Glutamic acid (CBR1 = 4.353 g/100g, CBR2 = 5.804 g/100g) was the highest while cysteine (CBR1= 0.252 g/100g; CBR2 = 0.336 g/100g) was the lowest of the amino acids in the food samples. The amino acids composition increased as the percentage supplementation of bambara ground nut increased in the mixtures. The formulated food sample showed that CBR1 and CBR2 met 31.8% and 42.4% respectively of the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) fulfilment of essential amino acids. The biological value (BV) of CBR2 (90.5%) was significantly high when compared with CBR1 (75.9%) and ogi (52.4%). There was no significant difference between the BV of CBR2with the BV of Nutrend (93.8%). Also, the net protein utilisation (NPU), total digestibility (TD), protein efficiency ratio (PER), feed efficiency ratio (FER) and nitrogen retention (NR) of CBR2 were within a similar range as those for Nutrend. As for the haematological variables, there were no significant differences between those fed the formulated diets and the control samples. The rate of weight gain for the animals fed with CBR2 food sample was higher than those fed with CBR1 and ogi but were lower than those for animals fed with Nutrend and casein. The study established that the CBR2 samples contained.

Nutritional knowledge, nutrients intake and nutritional status of hypertensive patients in Ondo State, Nigeria.

This study aimed at assessing the anthropometry, dietary intake and micronutrient status of hypertensive patients attending specialist hospitals in Ondo State, Nigeria. A descriptive case control study was conducted among subjects attending two specialist hospitals located in Akure and Ondo towns. A total of 452 subjects (44.9% males and 55.1% females), was purposely selected from the study centres. A structured questionnaire was designed to collect information on demographic characteristics, socio-economic parameters, nutrition knowledge and dietary intakes of the subjects. The quantities of subjects' dietary intakes were measured using household measurements. Weight, height, systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressures were measured using electronic bathroom scale, standiometer and sphygmomanometer, respectively. The subject's urine was collected; and vitamin C, sodium, potassium, calcium, zinc and magnesium were determined using standard procedures. The results showed the following means: age 52.4 +/- 2.38 years, weight 66.4 +/- 1.63kg, height 1.64 +/- 0.01m, body mass index (BMI) 24.13 +/- 0.69kg/m2, SBP 124.86 +/- 2.3mmHg and DBP 76.22 +/- 1.86 mmHg. Blood pressure (BP) of the subjects showed that 46.9% had optimal BP, 14.2% normal BP, 11.5% high normal BP, 12.8% mild hypertension, 9.7% moderate hypertension and 4.9% severe hypertension. For BMI, 8.8% were underweight, 47.1% normal, 30.3% overweight, 6.0% obesity class I, 6.0% obesity class II and 1.8% obesity class III. The proportion of hypertensive subjects that were obese was significantly (P = 0.0001) higher than control subjects. Three-fifth of the control subjects had good nutrition knowledge compared to one-fifth of hypertensive subjects. The estimated mean energy intake was 8.46 MJ, protein 93.1g, carbohydrate 314.5g, fat 42.9g, fibres 5.6g and appreciable amount of vitamin C, calcium, zinc, magnesium, sodium and potassium. The subjects' urinary vitamin C concentration was 32.49 +/- 2.53mg; calcium 0.41 +/- 0.06mg, zinc 0.04 +/- 0.01mg; magnesium 4.57 +/- 0.37mg, sodium 8.33 +/- 0.37mg) and potassium 7.45 +/- 0.21mg. Statistically, there were significant differences (P < 0.05) between urinary vitamin C, sodium and potassium concentration (except zinc) of hypertensive patients and the control subjects. Weak correlations were observed between the subjects' systolic (P < 0.05) and diastolic (P < 0.01) BP and age, BMI and magnesium; with inverse correlations between vitamin C, sodium and potassium. The study concluded that hypertension was significantly influenced by BMI of the subjects, which may be an indication of high intake of calories. Therefore, calorie intake should be controlled among the hypertensives.

Nutritional status and intelligence quotient of primary schoolchildren in Akure community of Ondo State, Nigeria.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 402 children (10-15 years) randomly selected from twelve public and private primary schools in Akure community of Ondo State, Nigeria. Self-administered questionnaire was used to collect information on children's demographic features and parent's socio-economic characteristics. The subject's weight, height, height-for-age and weight-for-height z-score were measured and determined respectively. Raven Standard Progressive Matrices consisted of 60 questions was administered in a quiet classroom within 60 minutes to assess intelligence quotient (IQ) of the children. The means of measured parameters were: age, 11.5 +/- 0.08 years; weight, 33.3 +/- 0.35 kg; height, 1.4 +/- 0.0 m; height-for-age z-score, -0.003 +/- 0.04; weight-for-height z-score -7.2E-7 +/- 0.1 and IQ, 20.9 +/- 0.56 (34.8%). The occupations of the children's parents were civil service (43.3%), petty business (21.9%), farming (15.8%), vocational jobs (16.0%) and none (3.2%). The majority of the parents (31.8%) had secondary school education. Parents with no formal education, primary education, tertiary education and higher degrees accounted for 7.2%, 30.6%, 22.9% and 7.4%, respectively. Monthly incomes ranged between $38.5 and 230.8. Weight-for-height z-score of the children showed that 49.8% were normal, 40% mildly wasted, 9.7% moderately wasted and 0.5% severely wasted. Height-for-age z-score was 50% normal, 35.1% mildly stunted, 13.4% moderately stunted and 1.5% severely stunted. IQ scores were 5% superior 11.2% above average, 11.4% average, 8.2% below average and 64.2% intellectual deficit. The interrelationship between height-for-age, IQ and socio-demographic characteristics showed that there were insignificant differences between the age groups, gender and socio-economic status of the pupils. Conclusively, this study showed that the proportion of malnourished and intellectual deficit among the studied population were high. However, it is not clear whether the findings are specific to the studied population alone or applicable to other parts of Nigeria. Further studies are therefore needed to confirm these findings.