Development and Nutritional Evaluation of a Locally Sourced Nutrient Dense Premix Using Household Food Preprocessing Techniques: An Innovative Approach to Complementary Feeding

Description

Page: 361-364

Pooja Bafila, Gita Bisla, and Urvashi Chauhan (Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Banasthali Vidyapith, Rajasthan)

Children between the ages of 6 and 24 months are particularly vulnerable to malnutrition and the basic factor is the low nutritional density of complementary foods and improper weaning practices. It is essential to have nutrient-dense food mixes or a range of foods that meet an infant’s micro and macro-nutrient demands in order to provide nutritionally balanced and appropriate complementary foods to infants. The objective of this study was to develop nutrient-dense premixes for children to enhance infants’ nutritional status from resources available locally by applying household food preprocessing techniques and analyzing them for nutrients as well as sensory attributes. In the present study, the premix development process involves two phases. First of all, premixes were prepared by mixing cereals and pulses only, before that different preprocessing techniques like soaking, malting, germination, dehusking, roasting, cooking and straining were applied to enhance digestibility and availability of nutrients. Out of the cereals and pulses premixes, the most organoleptically accepted variant was selected and in the next phase fruits, vegetables, nuts, roots and tubers were added in the most accepted variant prepared from cereals and pulses combinations and then evaluated for various nutritional and sensory quality attributes. Nutritional analysis of the most accepted premix incorporating cereals, pulses, fruits, vegetables, nuts, roots and tubers revealed moisture was 4.8±0.06g, protein was 14.12±0.03g, ash was 1.71±0.06g, fat was 2.91±0.04g, fiber was 0.62±0.05g and carbohydrate was 75.84±0.06g (per 100g). It was found that the nutrient density of the premix was higher than the traditional recipes.