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This paper aims to determine the influence of genotype and environment on tannins, phytic acid, trypsin inhibitors and haemagglutinin content of African yam bean (AYB). The presence of antinutritional factors (ANFs) alongside hardness-to-cook have been identified as reasons for the neglected and under-utilized status of AYB, a protein-rich legume. Various researchers have focused on ways to reduce these ANFs. However, breeding varieties of AYB with low levels of these ANFs offers a more satisfactory long-term solution to this problem.

Fifteen genotypes of AYB were grown in three different locations – Abakaliki (6° 19′ N 8° 6′ E), Enugu (6° 52′ N 7° 37′ E) and Ibadan (7° 26′ N 3° 53′ E). The locations are representative of the major areas where AYB are produced in Nigeria. Seeds were collected and analysed for the presence of haemagglutinin, phytic acid, trypsin inhibitors and tannin.

Genotype effects were strongest in controlling haemagglutinin content, while environment was the major source of variation for phytic acid, trypsin inhibitors and tannin content. Therefore, variability in the levels of these ANFs in AYB depends largely on the environment where they are grown. Genotype × environment was significant for all the ANFs.

The implication of this is that an AYB genotype grown and safely consumed in an environment could have antinutritional effects when grown and consumed in another environment.

While research has been carried out on genotypic variations in ANFs of AYB, limited work has been done on the effect of genotype × environment interactions on these ANFs.

Unleavened bread (chapatti and roti) is the staple diet of people in the Indo‐Pak region, utilizing almost 90 percent of the wheat produced in the region. To improve the nutrition of chapattis, normally legume flour is used in the region. The purpose of the current study is to assess the nutritional quality and safety of chapattis supplemented with soy flour.

Wheat and soybean were procured and soy flour was prepared. Trypsin inhibitor contents and mineral contents of different flour and chapattis prepared were determined. Chapattis were prepared from different flour blends and whole wheat flour. To assess the quality and acceptability, the chapattis were presented to a panel of judges and the sensory evaluation was carried out for color, taste, aroma, chew ability, folding ability and overall acceptability characteristics. The data obtained for each parameter were subjected to statistical analysis to determine the level of significance.

The phytic acid and trypsin content were higher in un‐autoclaved soy flour supplement composite flour. The defattening of soy flour also increases the level of these anti‐nutrients in chapattis. The phytate and trypsin content of composite flour decreased as a result of baking. The protein, fiber and ash contents of composite flour increased while moisture content and nitrogen free extracts (NFE) decreased by the addition of soy flour. Mineral contents of chapattis except Mn increased by the incorporation of soy flour. The chapattis were found acceptable by the panel of judges at 10 percent replacement level of whole wheat flour by soy flour.

The results of the study indicate that 10 percent supplementation of soy flour in wheat flour was found acceptable by consumers as it did not affect the sensory attribute. For improved nutrition and to combat protein energy malnutrition, chapattis flour can be supplemented with soy flour.

The soy supplementation of wheat flour will improve the nutritional quality of the chapatti flour as soy flour is rich in high‐quality protein and mineral. The anti‐nutritional can be minimized or inactivated by autoclaving the soybean.

Soybean has great nutritional potential. Its high protein content makes it an alternative protein source to milk in situations where milk cannot be used due to allergic reactions or intolerance. However, the potential benefits of soybean might be limited by the presence of antinutritional factors, including trypsin inhibitor activity (TIA). The purpose of the study is to evaluate the effect of dehulling and germination on the nutritive value of the soy flour and on the factors that could negatively affect the nutritional potential of the bean.

Soybean seeds were soaked for 24 h and allowed to germinate for one to three days. Soaked soybeans were manually dehulled and the flours obtained were evaluated for nutritional and antinutritional factors.

Dehulling and germination produce significant increase in crude protein and crude fiber and ash content (p = 0.05). Crude fat and starch content decreased, but the reduction was insignificant. Trypsin inhibitor levels were significantly lower after germination and dehulling of the seeds (p = 0.05).

Dehulling and germination are cost-effective processing techniques to improve the nutritional quality of the legume.

The purpose of this paper to standardize the technique for the development of potato flour and to incorporate it in development of the products along with defatted soy flour and maize flour. Also, effect of processing techniques like frying and fermentation on anti‐nutritional content of the products was studied.

The ingredients as well as developed products were analyzed for the macronutrients, viz protein, ash and fat. Also anti‐nutrients like phytic acid, saponin, polyphenols and trypsin inhibitors were estimated by employing standard techniques. Data thus obtained were subjected to analysis of variance according to standard method of statistical analysis.

Potato flour being a versatile ingredient can be easily incorporated in development of various products. Frying and fermentation resulted in decrease of anti‐nutritional factors.

These developed products could be instrumental in alleviating malnutrition as they have high nutritional value and are low in anti‐nutrients.

The purpose of this paper was to analyse the present status of the information available on rice bean [Vigna umbellata (Thunb.)] cultivars with respect to its nutritional and functional characteristics. It is one of the non-conventional and under-utilized beans of South and Southeast Asia. In northeastern regions of India, it is an important crop for shifting cultivation or kitchen garden which is consumed as vegetable (tender pod) and pulse. The information gaps filling could be useful for several work proposals and for consumers and cultivators to know the nutritional strength and varied usability of the grain which in-turn can help in its commercialization.

The approach to information collection was emphasized on nutritional strength of the grain compared to other beans of Vigna family and the varied usability among the rice bean varieties of the Himalayan Belt.

The average carbohydrate, protein, fat, crude fibre and ash content of 75 genotypes of rice bean was found 59.96 ± 2.81, 20.78 ± 2.65, 1.74 ± 1.42, 5.07 ± 1.17 and 4.44 ± 1.03 per cent, respectively. It has high quality protein with all essential amino acid in balance manner. Among the minerals, it contains calcium, iron, zinc and potassium with high bio-availability of calcium (59.8 ± 0.3 per cent). The factors such as flatulence producing saccharides, trypsin inhibitors, polyphenols, phytic acid, saponin and tannins of rice bean were reported to be in the range of 3.28-5.87 per cent, 55.12-163.98 TIU/g, 0.58-1.82 1.88-8.17, 1.2-3.1 and 0.24-1.55 per cent, respectively. The toxic compounds such as hydrogen cyanide (0.09 mg/100 g) and L-3, 4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (0.36 mg/100 g) is lowest in rice bean. The nutritional advantages of rice bean over the other beans of Vigna family were required to emphasize to induce interest among the researchers, producers and consumers.

In view of the recommended daily requirements with respect of amino acids, vitamin-B and minerals, rice bean could be a major component of the diet to fulfill them. However, the scanty information available on nutritional and functional components of rice bean varieties grown in northeastern India calls for the gap filing research to explore full potential of the bean.

The information about differences among the northeastern varieties of rice bean available on nutritional functional components essentially required the updating of research data to explore full potential and utility of the bean.

The health-promoting phytochemicals such as phenolic compounds and flavonoids present in nonfatty portion of pecan nut remain overlooked. The present study aimed to evaluate the nutritional and antinutritional/phytochemical constituents of pecan nut and its effect (as a whole nut flour) on the blood lipid profile in the rat model.

The nutritional composition as well as phytochemicals were evaluated by using standard chemical methods. A controlled randomized study was conducted to assess the hypocholesterolemic effect of nut supplementation in male Wistar albino rats.

Phytochemicals/antinutrients analysis exhibited remarkable amount of phenolic compounds (47.05 ± 9.85–302.67 ± 7.72 mg GAE/100 g) and flavonoids (44.95 ± 0.23 mg/100 g) with low trypsin inhibitor activity (TIA) (1.18 ± 0.03 TIU/mg), saponins (0.49 ± 0.04 g/100 g), alkaloids (0.26 ± 0.03 mg/100 g), phytic acid (854.75 ± 15.47) and oxalates (8.15 ± 0.58 mg/100 g) content. Kernel oil showed 2.87 ± 0.75 meq O₂/kg oil peroxide value (PV), well below the maximum permissible limit, demonstrating good oxidative stability of pecan oil. Pecan nut-supplemented diet exhibited a favorable alteration in the blood lipid profile by decreasing total cholesterol (TC) (from 85.42 ± 1.62–229.23 ± 3.43 to 72.24 ± 1.39–106.10 ± 1.69 mg/dl) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (from 64.02 ± 1.96–199.07 ± 4.40 to 38.73 ± 0.79–55.48 ± 1.69 mg/dl) and increasing high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (from 8.70 ± 0.85–9.64 ± 1.10 to 20.25 ± 0.65–24.96 ± 0.56 mg/dl) when compared with control (CC).

This information would be further useful for assessing the biological quality of pecan nut as well as developing value-added food products by exploiting deoiled pecan protein concentrates.

Pecan nut is a rich source of traditional nutrients and phytochemicals and can be recommended to patients with hypercholesterolemia and related cardiovascular diseases.

This study aims to investigate the levels of some anti‐nutritional factors and minerals and the effect of boiling or roasting on selected commonly consumed Caribbean tuber crops.

Three commonly consumed tuber crops in the Caribbean namely: Yellow yam (Dioscorea cayenensis), Cocoyam (Xanthosoma sp.) and Sweet potato (Ipomea batatas) were harvested from farmers’ field in the Parish of Manchester, Jamaica and assessed in their boiled, raw and roasted forms for levels of some anti‐nutritional factors and minerals.

Zinc and iron levels were highest in raw Yellow yam, while the highest levels of calcium were observed in Sweet potato. The phytic acid to zinc molar ratio was higher than 15 in all the tuber crops in their raw and roasted forms. Boiling reduced this ratio to below 15 for Yellow yam and Cocoyam but still remained above 15 for Sweet potato. Cyanoglucoside level was highest in raw Sweet potato followed by Yellow yam and Cocoyam. Boiling or roasting reduced the levels of cyanoglucosides. Roasting greatly lowered the level of trypsin inhibitor activity compared to boiling. The highest level of trypsin inhibitor activity was recorded in the raw tubers, and slight reductions were observed upon processing.

Trypsin inhibitor was more stable to heat treatment compared to similar tubers grown in Africa. It may be beneficial to isolate and characterize trypsin inhibitor in these Caribbean tuber crops for utilization in nutraceutics.

This study shows that the two traditional processing methods were effective in lowering the levels of anti‐nutritional factors.

The purpose of this paper is to characterize 25 collections of pigeon pea from south‐west Nigeria using nutritional and anti‐nutritional contents of the seeds.

The nutritional and anti‐nutritional constituents of 25 collections of pigeon pea were determined. Data collected were subjected to correlation, principal components and fastclus analyses.

Ariation among the collections for the nutrient contents was low. Trypsin inhibitor content had the highest variability ranging between 21.74 and 35.43 Tiu/mg. Protein and trypsin inhibitor contents were significant and negatively correlated. The first three principal components explained 74.0 per cent of the total variation. Fastclus procedures grouped the collections into three. Members of cluster 1 had the highest value for protein and the lowest concentrations of the anti‐nutritional factors (ANFs). Cluster 2 possessed relatively low protein with high level of ANFs while cluster 3 was intermediate between clusters 1 and 2 for most characters.

The results indicate that members of cluster 1 with high protein and low levels of ANFs are good candidates in breeding/selecting pigeon pea cultivars with enhanced nutritional values.

The main purpose of this paper is to determine the content of amino acids, fatty acids and minerals in seven indigenous leafy vegetables (ILVs) in Ghana.

Leaves from plants growing near Kumasi were milled to a fine powder, dried to constant weight in a vacuum desiccator, and analyzed for their content of the afore‐mentioned nutrients. The plants were: Hibiscus sabdarifa, Hibiscus cannabinus, Amaranthus cruentus, Corchorus oliforius, Solanum macrocarpon, Xanthomosa sagittifolium and Vigna unguiculatus.

All seven ILVs contained a large amount of protein (15.5‐22.8 percent), which compared favorably to the essential amino acid pattern of a WHO standard. They all contained nutritionally useful amounts of α‐linolenic acid and had an omega‐6/omega‐3 ratio of 0.1‐0.9. The seven ILVs contained quantities of calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum and zinc that could contribute significantly to satisfying an individual's need for these elements.

The presence of relatively large amounts of various nutritionally essential macro‐ and micronutrients in these seven ILVs does not necessarily mean these nutrients are bioavailable. Future research is required to determine the amounts of anti‐nutrients (e.g. protease inhibitors, chelators) in these vegetables, and the extent to which their protein, lipid and mineral constituents are digested and/or absorbed.

Since malnutrition (e.g. iron‐deficiency anemia, rickets, zinc deficiency, protein‐calorie malnutrition) is common in sub‐Saharan Africa, the information which is provided should increase awareness among agricultural and public health officials of the nutritional value of seven underappreciated and underutilized ILVs that are indigenous to Ghana and many other parts of Africa.

At the commencement of this decade, leaving behind the “striking seventies”, we christened it the “anxious eighties”, for there was a profound disquiet and uncertainty among most of the population, a fear that things were going to get worse, but they could have hardly expected the catastrophic events of the year 1981. The criteria of quality of life are its richness, grace, elegance; by the promise it contains; inspiration and purpose, hope, determination (to survive, to make certain that the evildoer is not permitted to succeed), love of one's country — pro patria, of other days.