Nutrient Composition of Flour Blends from Cocoyam, Millet, Black Bean Enriched With Unripe Plantain Peel Flour

This study evaluated the nutrient composition of flour blends from cocoyam, millet, black bean enriched with unripe plantain peel flour. The flour blends were formulated into different proportions using mixture design of response surface methodology. The independent variables of the mixture components with their constraints were cocoyam flour (45 to 55%), millet flour (25 to 35%) and black bean flour (15 to 20%) which generated into fourteen runs (samples). All the formulated flour blends were enriched with 5g of unripe plantain peel flour. The formulated flour blends were optimized for proximate composition and the best three were selected based on the recommended nutrient intake of fat (< 10%), fibre (5 to 10%), protein (10 to 15%) and carbohydrate (50 to 60%), while commercial whole wheat flour served as the control. The selected flour blends and the control were analyzed for proximate, mineral, and vitamin composition. The proximate composition of the flour blends samples ranged from 7.05 to 7.55% fat, 2.92 to 3.51% fibre, 15.11 to 15.74% protein and 56.69 to 60.51% carbohydrate. The mineral composition of the selected flour samples ranged from 38.90 to 72.20 mg/100g calcium, 0.13 to 106.65 mg/100g magnesium, 0.40 to 166.85 mg/100g potassium, 0.40 to 8.31 mg/100g iron, 0.40 to 3.08 mg/100g zinc, and 0.001 to 0.001 mg/100g selenium. The vitamin composition of the flour samples ranged from 28.10 to 35.70 µg vitamin A, 0.07 to 0.52 mg/100g vitamin B1, 0.07 to 0.90 mg/100g vitamin B2, and 0.95 to 1.69 mg/100g vitamin B3, while vitamin B12 was not detected. The study showed that the flour blends particular C50:M30:B20 (50% cocoyam flour: 30% millet flour: 20% black bean flour) possess maximum recommended nutrient intake in terms of fibre, fat, protein and carbohydrate content and some essential micronutrients. This indicates that consumption of products would help to cob the problem of protein-energy malnutrition in the Nigeria.