Nutritional Analysis of Vitamin A Enriched Bread from Orange Flesh Sweet Potato and Locally Available Wheat Flours at Samre Woreda, Northern Ethiopia

Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is a public health problem in Ethiopia. Periodic supplementation of vitamin A (VA) capsules has developed as a short-term life saving intervention. However, it is important to shift from a subsidized periodic capsule distribution to a more sustainable food-based intervention, which could supply VA in the diet of low income rural communities. Orange flesh sweet potato (OFSP) was selected in this study as a potential raw material that used in foodbased intervention, because of its high β-carotene content (naturally biofortified food). Therefore, this study aimed to analyze nutritional compostion of the VA enriched breads for pre-school children from OFSP and locally available Wheat flours of the study area. Blending of OFSP flour with whole Wheat flour (WWF) was conducted at laboratory by employing Complete Randomized Design (CRD). i.e. four bread blends of OFSP flour:WWF (0:100, 10:90, 20:80 and 30%:70%) were prepared and subjected to nutritional analysis at Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute (EHNRI). For proximate and β-carotene analysis AOAC (2000) standard method and manual column chromatography were used, respectively. The data were analyzed using SPSS, versions 16. Bread enriched with 30% OFSP flour can contribute 83.3 and 74.2% of VA to 3 and 46 years old children’s daily requirement, respectively. Therefore, WWF can be substituted by 30% OFSP flour for pre-school children’s bread making. A general trend of nutrient analysis showed that moisture, ash, fiber, β-carotene increased significantly (p < 0.05) as proportion of OFSP flour increased; while protein, fat, carbohydrate and energy content decreased. Therefore, OFSP flour enriched breads have added advantages nutritionally, especially in β-carotene. This will give responsible individuals, policymakers and donors more confidence to invest and work in OFSP for alleviation of VAD.