Protein nutritional quality of soy fortified complementary flours from Western Kenya

Protein Energy Malnutrition accounts for 50% of the annual deaths of children aged below 5 years. 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 from western Kenya on protein nutritional quality, growth, and rehabilitation using a rat bioassay. Eleven isonitrogenous diets containing 10% protein, 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) at ratios of 70:30 flour and soy with milk powder as reference were fed to weanling male albino rats. Another group was fed on protein free diet. 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 1.462, FER of 0.146, and NPRR of 0.478. It also recorded the highest growth rate with a weight gain of 32.273g. Apparent Protein Digestibility (APD) and True Protein Digestibility (TPD) of all diets were statistically similar to the reference with maize having the highest values of 70.51% and 85.95%, respectively. The findings show that soy fortification increases the protein quality of complementary foods and can aid in curbing PEM, thereby ensuring an able society which can help achieve development agendas.