Study of Sweet Potato (Ipomea batatas Lam) Foods for Indigenous Consumption Through Chemical and Anti-Nutritive Analysis in Kwara State, Nigeria

Abstract: Production of indigeneous cheap and nutritious food which will improve the general health and well-being of people is inevitable. For a clear assurance of producing rich food devoid of antinutritive components and of course with high nutritive value, two samples of sweet potato foods; Sweet Potato Leaf Soup (SPLS) and Sweet Potato and Yam Pounded (SPYP) were prepared and analyzed for nutritional, minerals and antinutrtional contents. The result of nutrient content indicate that the percentage concentration of moisture, protein, fat, ash, crude fibre and carbohydrate were 70.54, 12.21, 3.88, 8.83, 5.88 and 25.74 for SPLS and 35.15, 1.42, 0.52, 1.49, 0.67 and 68.37 for SPYP respectively. The result of mineral content indicate the concentrations (mgg) of iron, zinc and calcium to be 8.82, 0.09 and 27.99 for SPLS and 1.61, 0.12 and-1 20.33 for SPYP respectively. Antinutritional result indicate that the concentration (mgg of phytate, oxalate and-1 tannin were 1.07, 167.16 and 0.22 for SPLS and 0.93, 171.93 and 0.56 for SPYP respectively. The result revealed significant difference (p<0.05) between the nutritional value of sweet potato leaf soup and sweet potato and yam pounded dishes. The results generally indicate that sweet potato dishes if properly processed and cooked could be a high quality and cheap source of energy rich food that could improve the general health and wellbeing of people