THE NUTRIENT COMPOSITION OF SOME NIGERIAN LEAFY GREEN VEGETABLES AND PHYSIOLOGICAL AVAILABILITY OF THEIR IRON CONTENT

Abstract

ABSTRACT In order to investigate the potential usefulness of local foodstuffs in Nigeria, a comprehensive survey of the various nutrients in 10 local vegetables was carried out. The survey covers: total nitrogen and total protein. Minerals: potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, Sulphur, chlorine, iron, copper and manganese. Vitamins: Thiamine, riboflavin, pyridoxine, ascorbic acid, vitamin E and vitamin K. Sugars: Sucrose, maltose, glucose and fructose. The results of the analysis show that the vegetables contain appreciable amounts of crude protein and that their mineral contents can contribute substantially to our daily requirements when consumed in reasonable amounts. The results also show that the vegetables are good providers of the above named vitamins with the exception of thiamine. In order to establish the overall or final usefulness of some of these nutrients to the body and since iron deficiency anemia is one of the commonest nutritional diseases among the local citizens, investigations were carried out to establish the physiological availability of iron in the vegetables using the rat. Physiological evidence is presented to show that the iron contents of the vegetables, except EWURO, are highly available to the system and that if consumed in adequate quantities they can play a big role in the prevention or cure of iron deficiency anemia. Since different people are exposed to different pianos of protein feeding, further investigation was undertaken to establish the effect of graded levels of dietary protein on the utilization of the iron contents of the vegetables. Evidence is presented to show that the availability of dietary iron is dependent on dietary protein levels and that a level of at least 10 per cent dietary protein is necessary for adequate iron utilization and that with lower amounts of dietary protein the utilization of the iron contents of the vegetables is Impaired.