Impact of ready to eat supplementary foods formulated from germinated cereal pulse mix and potato flour on the nutritional status of malnourished children
Five wholesome and nutritious ready to eat supplementary foods namely seviyan, panjiri, mathi, biscuits and pinni were developed from germinated wheat and green gram flour, potato flour and spinach leaves powder for malnourished children. The products were first standardized with potato flour followed by spinach leaves powder. All five products were acceptable at 30 per cent level of potato flour and 2.5 per cent level of spinach leaves powder. Mean overall acceptability scores of developed products were significantly different (p 0.05) The products were analyzed for nutritional composition. A significant (p 0.05) difference was observed in terms of proximate composition among the developed products. Highest energy value was found as 450.44 kcal for mathi. Lysine content was observed highest in biscuits. In vitro protein and carbohydrate digestibility was in the range of 0.567 to 0.858 and 85.17 to 91.73 mg glucose 100 g respectively. The phytin phosphorus content of the products decreased significantly. The developed products were stored in four different packaging material i.e. glass container, glass container aluminium zip lock packet, glass container plastic zip lock packet and plastic container for 90 days to check their shelf life and were found acceptable after sensory evaluation. To study the impact of supplementation of developed products on nutritional status of malnourished preschool children, a total of 118 children were selected from three ICDS centers of Ludhiana city. Out of total subjects, a sample of 90 preschool children in the age group of 3 to 5 years was selected for feeding trial on the basis of z scores. The subjects were divided into two groups i.e. experimental and control with 30 subjects in each group. The subjects of experimental group were supplemented with 100 g of each developed product for 90 days. A significant (p 0.05) (p 0.01) increase in intake of cereals, pulses, green leafy vegetables and roots and tubers all macro and micronutrients except calcium and folate, weight, BMI, MUAC and biochemical parameters was observed in the subjects of experimental group after supplementation. The developed products could be recommended for malnourished children under supplementary feeding programmes in the country.