The effect of enset varieties and fermentation time on the nutritional composition, antinutritional content, functional properties, and sensory acceptance of bulla was assessed. Bulla samples were prepared from newly improved enset varieties yanbule, gewada, zereta, and messina and were fermented for 0, 15, and 30 days. The result revealed that bulla prepared from gewada had relatively better values of fat (0.3 g/100 g), fiber (1.04 g/100 g), carbohydrate (97.7 g/100 g), energy (394.2 Kcal), and Fe (2.54 mg/100 g). Yanbule had relatively higher ash content (1.05 g/100 g) and considerably higher Ca (317.9 mg/100 g) than bulla prepared from the other varieties. Mg (56.8 mg/100 g) and Zn (2.3 mg/100 g) were relatively higher in bulla prepared from Messina. A very low level of tannin was detected only for gewada, but high contents of phytate up to 112.5 mg/100 g were obtained. With respect to the functional properties of bulla fermented for 30 days, no significant differences were observed among the varieties except for water absorption capacity. In terms of sensory quality, bulla porridge prepared from yanbule had comparatively higher overall acceptability score (7.6).

Spinach (Spinacia oleracea) is a winter-season green, leafy vegetable grown all over the world, belonging to the family Amaranthus, sub-family Chenopodiaceae. Spinach is a low-caloric food and an enormous source of micronutrients, e.g., calcium, folates, zinc, retinol, iron, ascorbic acid and magnesium. Contrarily, it also contains a variety of anti-nutritional factors, e.g., alkaloids, phytates, saponins, oxalates, tannins and many other natural toxicants which may hinder nutrient-absorption. This study was aimed at investigating the effect of fermentation on improving the nutrient-delivering potential of spinach and mitigating its burden of antinutrients and toxicants at three growth stages: the 1st growth stage as baby leaves, the 2nd growth stage at the coarse stage, and the 3rd growth stage at maturation. The results revealed the significant (p < 0.05) effect of fermentation on increasing the protein and fiber content of spinach powder from 2.53 to 3.53% and 19.33 to 22.03%, respectively, and on reducing total carbohydrate content from 52.92 to 40.52%; the effect was consistent in all three growth stages. A significant decline in alkaloids (6.45 to 2.20 mg/100 g), oxalates (0.07 mg/100 g to 0.02 mg/100 g), phytates (1.97 to 0.43 mg/100 g) and glucosinolates (201 to 10.50 µmol/g) was observed as a result of fermentation using Lactiplantibacillus plantarum. Fermentation had no impact on total phenolic content and the antioxidant potential of spinach, as evaluated using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays. This study proposes fermentation as a safer bioprocess for improving the nutrient-delivering potential of spinach, and suggests processed powders made from spinach as a cost-effective complement to existing plant proteins.

BACKGROUND: In Ghana, Corchorus olitorius, Solanum macrocarpon and Amaranthus cruentus are green leafy vegetables that are customarily eaten together with a starchy staple food. The present study aimed at assessing the ethanolic leaf extract of C. olitorius, S. macrocarpon and A. cruentus for antioxidant capacity, phytochemical property, nutritional and anti-nutrient content.
METHODS: Phytochemical constituent and proximate analysis were determined using standard protocols. The DPPH scavenging activity was used to determine the antioxidant activity of the ethanolic leaf extracts from the three vegetables. The antinutrients phytate and oxalate were determined by titrimetric methods of analysis.
RESULTS: Pytochemical screening revealed the presence of tannins and flavonoids in C. olitorius, S. macrocarpon and A. cruentus. Alkaloids and saponins were present in C. olitorius and S. macrocarpon but not in A. cruentus. Terpenoids, steroids, carotenoids and coumarins were absent in all the three vegetables. Proximate analysis revealed varying levels of moisture, fat, protein, ash, crude fibre and carbohydrates in the three leafy vegetables. The DPPH scavenging showed 86.71%, 71.72% and 38.86% activity for S. macrocarpon, C. olitorius and A. cruentus respectively. The antinutrient results revealed an oxalate level of 2.7 ± 0.13% for C. olitorius, 6.43 ± 0.06% for A. cruentus and 12.32 ± 0.13% for S. macrocarpon. For levels of phytates, our results revealed a 3.084 ± 0.54%, 1.14 ± 0.26% and 1.71 ± 0.27% for C. olitorius, A. cruentus and S. macrocarpon, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: The current study has shown that C. olitorius, A. cruentus and S. macrocarpon possess important phytochemicals, nutrients and significant antioxidant activity, suggesting a potential of these vegetables against diverse disease, if eaten by humans.

A large section of the human population relies on legumes as a staple food. Legumes are a rich source of nutrients and possess several health-related beneficial properties. However, the nutritional quality of legumes is challenged by the presence of a considerable amount of antinutrients. Consumption of inadequately processed legumes might affect normal metabolism and cause adverse human health-related effects. Effective processing becomes necessary to reduce these antinutritional factors before consumption. Optimizing the processing variables during preparation of legume-based traditional foods by using response surface methodology could be a valuable option to reduce antinutrients. The present review focuses on the efficacy of traditional household-scale processing unit operations vis-à-vis the reduction of antinutrients. Optimally prepared products should ensure meeting the consumer demand of improved, healthy, and more nutritious and safe foods. Modeling-based optimization approach will be helpful to define best practices at the small-, medium-, and large scale production alike. It should contribute towards effective utilization of legume resources, and to alleviate malnutrition and associated diseases world-wide.

Many fibrous ingredients incorporated in poultry feed to reduce production costs have low digestibility and cause poor growth in poultry. However, all plant-based fibers are not equal, and thus exert variable physiological effects on the birds, including but not limited to, digestibility, growth performance, and microbial fermentation. Several types of fibers, especially oligosaccharides, when supplemented in poultry diets in isolated form, exhibit prebiotic effects by enhancing beneficial gut microbiota, modulating gut immunity, boosting intestinal mucosal health, and increasing the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) in the gut. Recently, poultry producers are also facing the challenge of limiting the use of antibiotic growth promoters (AGP) in poultry feed. In addition to other alternatives in use, exogenous non-starch polysaccharides digesting enzymes (NSPase) and prebiotics are being used to provide substrates to support the gut microbiome. We also conducted a meta-analysis of different studies conducted in similar experimental conditions to evaluate the variability and conclusiveness in effects of NSPase on growth performance of broilers fed fibrous ingredients. This review presents a holistic approach in discussing the existing challenges of incorporating high-fiber ingredients in poultry feed, as well as strategies to fully utilize the potential of such ingredients in improving feed efficiency and gut health of poultry.

Phytate is widely distributed in the plant kingdom, and its significance for human nutrition has been often described. Data on phytate is available in very few composition tables, for a limited number of foods and mainly for raw products. With the aim of publishing the first global repository of analytical data on phytate, data on moisture, phytate, zinc, iron and calcium were compiled. Other aspects, such as the analytical method used, biodiversity and processing, were considered, and phytate: mineral ratios were calculated when possible. From a comprehensive literature search, over 250 references were compiled, generating 3377 entries: 39% for raw and 61% for processed foods. Most of the entries were for cereals (35%), followed by legumes (27%) and vegetables (11%). The most common analytical methods used were indirect precipitation (26%) and anion exchange (25%), while separate determination of IPs is the most recommended. The database can be used as a tool for nutrition workers to include into food composition tables and to develop programmes related to mineral deficiencies. These data will be useful for designing diets with enhanced mineral bioavailability and for improving the estimates for nutrient requirements. The database is available at the INFOODS (www.fao.org/infoods/infoods/tables-and-databases/en) and IZiNCG webpages (www.izincg.org).

Cassava, rice, and banana flours were used individually to replace wheat flour in cereal-legume-based composite flours. The proximate composition, mineral content, antinutritional effect, mineral molar ratios, and aflatoxin level were investigated. Replacing wheat flour with rice flour significantly (P < 0.05) improved protein, fat, potassium, and phosphorus content in samples. The molar ratios of phytate or oxalate to minerals (calcium and zinc) in all composite flours were lower than the reported critical values, except phytate to iron. However, all samples, except full replacement by rice flour, might not provide adequate zinc bioavailability when the effect of calcium and phytate on zinc absorption was collectively considered. Although all composite flours were contaminated with aflatoxins, only the control composed of wheat flour did not meet the EU regulatory threshold (4.0 µg/kg) for total aflatoxins. The findings showed that nutritional properties and aflatoxin content of composite flours can be improved by replacement with local crops.

Dhokla, a popular indigenous savoury dish of India, is prepared by soaking bengalgram dal and rice, grinding separately, mixing the batters, and spontaneously fermenting and steaming of mixed batter. Central composite rotatable response surface designs for soaking, fermentation and steaming at five-level combinations were used for optimising preparation of dhokla to achieve reduced contents of antinutrients. Optimum soaking of bengalgram dal (dal-water ratio of 1:5 w/w, pH 7.0, 23 °C, 20 h) and rice (rice-water ratio of 1:5 w/w, pH 5.6, 16 °C, 18 h) resulted in reduced levels of all the antinutrients, except total biogenic amines in rice. Fermentation of dal-rice (3:1 v/v) mixed batter under optimum condition (added NaCl of 8 g/kg, 32 °C, 18 h) further reduced their levels, but total biogenic amines content was enhanced. However, optimum steaming of dal-rice mixed fermented batter for 20 min was effective in reducing all the tested antinutrients. In dhokla, the content of tannins, phytic acid and total biogenic amines reduced by 100, 94 and 20%, respectively; trypsin inhibitor and haemagglutinating activities reduced by 92 and 100%, respectively, over raw ingredients. The optimally prepared product (dhokla) ranked \"excellent\" in terms of overall sensory quality.

The use of plant-derived foods in the prevention, treatment, and management of metabolic diseases especially diabetes has gained prominence; this has been associated with their physicochemical properties. This study was conducted to compare the proximate, functional, mineral, and antinutrient composition of the fermented seeds, the defatted seeds, and the protein isolate from Parkia biglobosa seeds. The results showed that the fermented, defatted, and protein isolate varied in composition within the parameters studied. The proximate analysis revealed that the protein isolate had the highest ash (6.0%) and protein (59.4%) as well as the lowest fat (5.7%) and moisture (5.1%) content when compared to the fermented and defatted samples. In like manner, the functional properties of the protein isolate were relatively better than those of the fermented and defatted samples, with oil absorption capacity of 4.2% and emulsion capacity of 82%. The magnesium and zinc content of the protein isolate were significantly higher when compared with the fermented and defatted samples, while a negligible amount of antinutrient was present in all the samples, with the protein isolate having the lowest quantity. The overall data suggest that the protein isolate had better proximate, mineral, functional, and antinutrient properties when compared to the fermented and defatted samples. Therefore, the synergistic effect of all these components present in the protein isolate from P. biglobosa seed in association with its low carbohydrate and high protein/ash contents could play a vital role in the management of diabetes and its associated complications.

The individualistic effect of unit operations of production, at household level, on some antinutritional factors in selected cowpea-based food products (moin-moin, akara, and gbegiri) was investigated. Four cowpea types (IT93K-452-1, IT95K-499s-35, IT97K-568-18, and market sample) were used for the study, whereas the three traditional food products were produced from each of the cowpea types, respectively. The results revealed that every unit operation involved in the production of moin-moin, akara or gbegiri contributed to the overall reduction of trypsin inhibitor activity (TIA), phytic acid (PA), and tannin; though at varying degrees. In the production of moin-moin, the major contributions to the overall reduction in TIA were from steaming (64.2-72.0%), second-stage soaking (9.7-11.9%), and dehulling (9.4-10.2%). The contributions to the overall reduction in PA were from dehulling (34.0-40.4%), preliminary soaking (15.4-21.0%), and steaming (7.8-14.0%), whereas that of tannin were from dehulling (39.7-47.6%), steaming (19.6-24.7%), and preliminary soaking (9.8-15.9%). For akara production, the major contributions to TIA reduction were from deep frying (64.2-72.0%), second-stage soaking (9.7-11.9%), and dehulling (9.4-10.2%). The PA reduction was from dehulling (34.0-40.4%), preliminary soaking (15.4-21.0%), and deep frying (9.6-15.9%), whereas that of tannin reduction was from dehulling (39.7-47.6%), deep frying (20.7-25.3%), and preliminary soaking (9.8-15.9%). In the production of gbegiri, the overall reduction in TIA was contributed from pressure cooking (79.0-84.8%), preliminary soaking (5.8-11.3%), and dehulling (9.4-10.2%). The reduction in PA was contributed by dehulling (34.0-40.4%), pressure cooking (24.7-35.0%), and preliminary soaking (15.4-21.0%), whereas the overall reduction in tannin content was similarly contributed by dehulling (39.7-47.6%), pressure cooking (29.8-34.4%), and preliminary soaking (9.8-15.9%).