Research Journal of Food Science and Nutrition

This study evaluated the proximate composition, energy value and mineral composition of maize–tiger nut–soybean composite flours developed for potential complementary food applications. Five formulations comprising 100% maize flour (M), 80:10:10 (MTS1), 70:15:15 (MTS2), 60:20:20 (MTS3) and 50:25:25 (MTS4) maize–tiger nut–soybean blends were prepared and evaluated using a completely randomised design with three replicate determinations per formulation. Proximate composition was determined using standard AOAC methods, while mineral contents were analysed using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA), and means were separated using Duncan’s multiple range test at p<0.05. Increasing tiger nut and soybean incorporation generally increased ash, fat, crude fibre and protein contents, while carbohydrate content decreased. Protein increased from 5.43% in M to 11.55% in MTS4, fat from 1.06 to 6.63%, ash from 0.63 to 1.15% and crude fibre from 0.30 to 0.74%, whereas carbohydrate decreased from 82.52 to 69.75%. These changes were accompanied by numerical increases in calculated energy value from 361.14 to 392.07 kcal/100 g; however, the differences were not statistically significant (p>0.05). Mineral concentrations increased across the formulations, with calcium rising from 18.40 to 54.90 mg/100 g, iron from 1.85 to 4.55 mg/100 g, magnesium from 48.20 to 86.75 mg/100 g, phosphorus from 210.50 to 327.10 mg/100 g and potassium from 245.60 to 410.20 mg/100 g. Zinc, sodium, copper and manganese also increased from 1.65 to 3.10, 3.20 to 6.60, 0.18 to 0.38 and 0.35 to 0.83 mg/100 g, respectively. Overall, the results indicate that incorporating tiger nut and soybean improved the protein, fat and measured mineral contents of the maize-based composite flour. MTS4 recorded the highest values for these parameters, suggesting that the blend may offer potential for developing nutrient-enriched complementary food products. Further assessment of nutrient bioavailability, amino acid quality, digestibility, anti-nutritional factors, microbiological safety and sensory acceptability is required before its suitability for infant feeding can be established.