Formulation and Evaluation of the Physicochemical Composition of Maize Based Complementary Flour

Childhood malnutrition is a current and perpetual public health concern in many African countries. Challenges remain the difficulty in formulating nutritionally adequate diets. This study was carried out to produce maize based complementary flour from maize, soybean, germinated maize, dried calyxes of Hibiscus sabdariffa and fresh cut leaves of Gnetum africanum, groundnut paste and table sugar. The nutritional quality of the flour blends was then assessed. Results indicate that the flour blendes satisfy the recommended energy and macronutrients requirements according to set standards. Thus, the flour blends can be used for managing protein-energy malnutrition. The zinc and iron contents also respect the standards. However, calcium fortification is needed to fulfill the standard. In all cases, the weaning flours need to be fortified with more micronutrients or supplemented with synthetic nutrients to meet the micronutrients codex standard and this represent a challenge for future study.