LAUSR

BACKGROUND Plant-based complementary foods (CFs) supply insufficient amount of nutrients to meet recommended nutrient intakes for 6-23 months old children. This study determined the nutritional quality of CFs formulated from blends of Nigerian yellow maize (Zea mays), soybean (Glycine max) and crayfish (Procambarus clarkii). Three CFs were formulated, namely maize flour (MF, 100:0% w/w), blends of maize and soybean flour (MSF, 72:28% w/w) and maize, soybean, and crayfish flour (MSCF, 80:10:10% w/w). Nutritional quality was evaluated using analyses of chemical composition of CFs and of protein quality of complementary food diets (CFDs). Data were compared by Multivariate Analysis of Variance and significantly differentiated. Nine selected nutritional criteria were used to decide CF that had best nutritional characteristic on comparison with MF and fortified wheat flour (FWMF). RESULT Total scores obtained from selected nutritional criteria ranked MSCF, with total score of 15, the lowest and thus considered to have the most desirable nutritional characteristics compared with MF, MSF and FWMF that had the respective total score of 31, 22 and 20. CONCLUSION Conclusively, MSCF may serve as a better alternative CF for MF, MSC and FWMF. This study has produced a potential alternative cost-effective and adequate CF, formulated from crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) supplementation of locally available blend of yellow maize (Zea mays) and soybean (Glycine max), for the poor human population, to encourage the consumption of animal-sourced CF for alleviating the prevalence of childhood undernutrition. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.