Nutritional Evaluation of Complementary Food Gruels Formulated from Blends of Soybean Flour and Ginger Modified Cocoyam Starch

The use of ginger modified starch and soybean flour blends in the formulation of low-cost, nutritive complementary food gruels were studied. The complementary food samples were analyzed for their nutritional, functional, anti-nutritional and sensory properties. The nutritional composition of the samples showed that the protein content increased with increased supplementation with the soybean flour from 2.68% in sample A (10:90) to 3.97% in sample D (40:60). The functional properties of the samples showed an increase in the swelling index and water absorption capacities from samples A to sample D while the bulk densities were relatively constant. The complementary food samples also showed low levels of oxalate and phytate in the range of 0.03 to 0.06% for oxalate and 0.04 to 0.07% for phytate. The sensory evaluation carried out on the complementary food samples after reconstituting into gruel with warm water, milk and sugar showed that all the samples were well accepted by the judges.