article · American Journal of Food Science and Technology
This research examined how traditional processing techniques affect the nutritional and functional qualities of maize and cassava flours. Maize was subjected to nixtamalization, an alkaline steeping process, while cassava underwent fermentation. Both treatments substantially boosted key functional attributes, such as water absorption, oil absorption, bulk density, and swelling capacity. Nutritional quality also improved, with marked increases in protein, fat, and dietary fibre. In addition, the treated flours showed higher concentrations of essential minerals, including calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, and phosphorus. Both methods significantly lowered the concentrations of antinutritional compounds such as phytates and tannins, which usually hinder nutrient absorption. These findings demonstrate that processing maize and cassava with nixtamalization and fermentation yields enriched flours well suited for diverse food applications, such as bakery items, fufu, and complementary feeding products.
Staple crops like maize and cassava are widely consumed but often lack optimal nutritional density and contain antinutrients that limit mineral absorption. Applying simple processing methods like nixtamalization and fermentation enhances the nutritional value, reduces antinutritional factors, and improves the baking and cooking characteristics of flours used in daily diets.
Food processors and manufacturers of baked goods, traditional staples like fufu, and infant or complementary foods could use these processed flours to formulate higher-nutrition products. The research is at an applied laboratory stage, having demonstrated compositional and functional improvements in test samples, but it requires pilot-scale validation and commercial formulation trials to reach market readiness.
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This study evaluated the impact of nixtamalization and fermentation on the functional and nutritional properties of selected flours (maize and Cassava). Maize and Cassava were subjected to nixtamalization and fermentation treatments respectively, and their functional properties, proximate composition, mineral content, and antinutrient levels were evaluated. The samples were as follows; Nixtamalized maize (NXM), Non-nixtamalized maize (NNM), Fermented Cassava (FC) and Non-fermented Cassava (NFC). Results revealed that both nixtamalization and fermentation significantly enhanced key functional properties, including water absorption capacity (1.69-2.19 g/g), oil absorption capacity (1.53-1.73 g/g), bulk density (0.57-0.62 g/mL) and swelling index (2.78-3.38 mL/g). The proximate composition showed notable enhancement in protein (3.74-16.27 %), fat (2.26-7.28 %), and fibre content (1.91-3.97 %), while mineral analysis demonstrated elevated levels of essential micronutrients such as calcium (148.49-189.44 mg/100 g), Magnesium (83.44-125.32 mg/100 g), Potassium (149.63-186.32 mg/100 g), Sodium (43.83 49.44 mg/100 g) and Phosphorus (94.79-123.48 mg/100 g). Furthermore, both treatments effectively reduced the antinutrient content, including phytates and tannins, contributing to improved nutrient bioavailability. Overall, nixtamalization and fermentation present promising methods for enhancing the nutritional and functional qualities of flours, making them suitable for use in various food formulations like complementary food, fufu, bread making and many others.
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DOI: 10.54536/ajfst.v4i1.3916
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