Nutritional quality of soy fortified complementary flours from Western Kenya

Protein energy malnutrition (PEM) accounts for 50% of the annual deaths of children under five years of age. Complementary foods for such young children should be protein efficient and nutrient dense. Compositing complementary flours with legumes of high protein quality such as soy can be effective in abating malnutrition. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of soy-fortified complementary flours on protein nutritional quality, growth, and rehabilitation using a rat bioassay. Ten is onitrogenous diets containing 10% protein and one containing 20% protein were formulated from six foods, maize (Zea mays), pearl millet (Pennisentum glaucum), finger millet (Eleusine coracana), sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), cassava (Manihot esculentum), and banana (Musa sp.) were fed to weanling male albino rats for five days. Another group was fed on protein free diet as a control. Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER), Food Efficiency Ratio (FER), Net Protein Retention Ratio (NPRR), True and Apparent Protein Digestibility, Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS) and growth were the indices of protein quality determined. Banana: Soy diet emerged superior, having a PER of 1.46, FER of 0.15, and NPRR of 0.48. This diet also recorded the highest growth rate with a total weight gain of 32.27g. The findings show that soy fortification increases the protein quality of complementary foods and can aid in curbing PEM, thereby ensuring an healthy economically productive society.