FATTY AND AMINO ACID COMPOSITIONS OF "ONUNU" AND "MGBAM", TRADITIONAL DIETS OF THE IKWERRE PEOPLE OF NIGERIA

Fatty acid and amino acid compositions of “Onunu” and “Mgbam”, traditional diets of the Ikwerre people of Nigeria was evaluated. In this study, both recipes were prepared using the ordinary traditional cooking methods and subsequently analysed for fatty and amino acid composition. The fatty acid profiles in the diets were characterized by four dominant fatty acids namely: palmitic, stearic, oleic and linoleic acids. The most common saturated fatty acid in the diets was palmitic and its content in Onunu (40.07±0.07%) was significantly (P<0.05) higher than that of Mgbam (13.74±1.10%) while linoleic acid was the most common unsaturated fatty acid and was significantly higher (P<0.05) in Mgbam (49.50±0.10%) compared to onunu (10.55±2.80). the ratio of PUFA/SFA in Mgbam was greater than 1. The amino acid profile shows that both diets contain appreciable quantities of essential and non essential amino acids with Mgbam significantly higher (P<0.05) than Onunu in all the amino acids except tyrosine where the reverse was the case. Arginine (725.33±6.25mg/gN) and leucine (700.00±8.00mg/gN) were found in higher concentrations than other essential amino acids in Mgbam and Onunu respectively whereas methionine was present in relatively lower levels, however, histidine and arginine content of both diets were significantly (P