Nutrient Composition of Cirina forda (Westwood)-Enriched Complementary Foods

Background/Aims: Dried Cirina fordo (Westwood) larva is widely marketed, cheap, and commonly consumed in South-western Nigeria. Its powder was used in enriching two commonly used complementary food staples (maize and sorghum) as a source of protein and essential micronutrients in complementary foods for infants and young children. Methods: Samples of soaked and dried sorghum and maize flours and C fordo powder were prepared, and C fordo powder was added to the dried soaked maize and sorghum flours at 5, 10, and 15% (w/w) inclusion levels and analyzed for proximate, mineral, and antinutrient compositions using standard methods of AOAC. Results: One hundred grams of C fordo larva contained 52.6 g of protein, 16.8 g of lipids, 2.6 g of ash, 268.67 mg of calcium, 5.64 mg of iron, and 15.00 mg of zinc, and yielded 458.40 kcal energy with 4.40 mg of trypsin inhibitor. Sorghum and maize flours contained 9.2 and 8.3 g of protein, respectively. Addition of C. forda at 5, 10, and 15% levels to fermented sorghum and maize flours significantly increased both micro- and macronutrients of the complementary foods (p < 0.05), and the nutrient density and trypsin inhibitor increased with the inclusion level (p < 0.05). Conclusion:The trypsin inhibitor level was very low and cannot cause protein malabsorption. C. fordo can serve as a good source of nutrients such as protein, fat, calcium, phosphorus, iron, and zinc in formulating nutrient-dense complementary foods. Copyright (C) 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel