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Title: Effect of cowpea flour processing on the chemical properties and acceptability of a novel cowpea blended maize porridge

Author
item NGOMA, THERESA - Lilongwe University Of Agriculture And Natural Resources
item CHIMIMBA, ULEMU - Lilongwe University Of Agriculture And Natural Resources
item MWANGWELA, AGNES - Lilongwe University Of Agriculture And Natural Resources
item THAKWALAKWA, CHRISSIE - University Of Malawi
item MALETA, KENNETH - University Of Malawi
item MANARY, MARK - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item TREHAN, INDI - Washington University

Submitted to: PLOS ONE
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/26/2018
Publication Date: 7/10/2018
Citation: Ngoma, T.N., Chimimba, U.K., Mwangwela, A.M., Thakwalakwa, C., Maleta, K.M., Manary, M.J., Trehan, I. 2018. Effect of cowpea flour processing on the chemical properties and acceptability of a novel cowpea blended maize porridge. PLoS One. 13(7):e0200418. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0200418.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0200418

Interpretive Summary: Introducing cowpea into the diets of young children has the potential to improve childhood growth but due to its strong taste, long processing time and high-energy processing requirements it is underutilized; furthermore, the processing may affect chemical composition as well as taste. This study evaluated the effect of processing on the retention of zinc, crude fibers, flavonoid and acceptability of roasted, boiled and dehulled cowpea flours. In all processing methods, zinc content and flavonoids were not affected and crude fibre was increased. All processing methods produced blended flours added to maize porridge that were acceptable with dehulled cowpea flour the most acceptable to both children and caregivers.

Technical Abstract: Childhood growth stunting is a pervasive problem in Malawi and is in large part due to low quality complementary foods and chronic gut inflammation. Introducing legumes such as cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) into the complementary diet has the potential to improve childhood growth by improving diet quality through improvements in macro- and micronutrients and also by reducing gut inflammation. However, cowpea is relatively underutilized in complementary feeding in Malawi due to its strong taste, long processing time, and high energy requirements for processing. Effective utilization of cowpea in complementary feeding requires processing which may affect chemical composition as well as sensory quality. The present study evaluated the effect of processing on the retention of zinc, crude fibre, and flavonoid in roasted, boiled, and dehulled cowpea flours, and assessed the acceptability of maize porridge (70%) enriched with one of the three cowpea flours (30%). Roasting, dehulling, and boiling did not have any effect on zinc content. Crude fibre content increased after processing by all methods. Processing had no effect on measurable flavonoids. Roasted, boiled, and dehulled cowpea blended maize porridges were acceptable to children with mean quantities of leftover food of less than 3g from the given 100g. Caregivers also rated the blended flours to be highly acceptable to them as well, with maize porridge blended with dehulled cowpea flour the most acceptable to both children and caregivers. These results demonstrate that cowpea flour, processed by any of these three different methods, could serve as a useful addition to maize porridge for complementary feeding of children in sub-Saharan Africa.