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. 2015 Apr 2;10(3):e0120121.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0120121. eCollection 2015.

Sweetpotato- and cereal-based infant foods: protein quality assessment, and effect on body composition using sprague dawley rats as a model

Francis Kweku Amagloh  1 , Tracy Chiridza  2 , Marie-Eve Lemercier  3 , Anne Broomfield  2 , Patrick C H Morel  4 , Jane Coad  2
Affiliations

Sweetpotato- and cereal-based infant foods: protein quality assessment, and effect on body composition using sprague dawley rats as a model

Francis Kweku Amagloh et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

The Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS) of sweetpotato-based complementary foods (OFSP ComFa and CFSP ComFa) and cereal-based infant products (Weanimix and Cerelac) was assessed using 3 wk-old male Sprague Dawley rats weighing between 53-67 g as a model for human infants. Also, the effect of consumption of the infant formulations on lean mass, bone mass content and fat mass was evaluated by Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) using 6 wk-old Sprague Dawley rats (initial weight, 206-229 g). The ComFa products and Weanimix are household-level formulations, and Cerelac is a commercial infant cereal. The true protein digestibility score for Cerelac was 96.27%, and about 1.8% (P<0.0001) higher than that for OFSP ComFa, CFSP ComFa and Weanimix. However, OFSP ComFa had the highest un-truncated PDCAAS by a difference of 4.1%, than CFSP ComFa, and about 20% difference compared with both the Weanimix and Cerelac. All the products investigated had PDCAAS greater than 70%, the minimum protein quality requirement for complementary foods. Among the rats assigned to the four formulations, their bone mass and fat mass composition were not significantly different (P=0.08 and P=0.85, respectively). However, the rats on CFSP ComFa had higher lean mass than those on Cerelac (321.67 vs. 297.19 g; P=0.03). The findings from the PDCAAS and the DEXA-measured body composition studies indicate that complementary foods could be formulated from readily available agricultural resources at the household-level to support growth as would a nutritionally adequate industrial-manufactured infant cereal. Nonetheless, it should be noted that the findings of our studies are based on an animal model.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Body weight of the experimental groups (Expt 1): Striped bars represent day 1 and the checkered bars represent day 9.
Bars represent group means and standard deviations for body weight. Bars for a particular day that do not share the same letter (a & b) are significantly different.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Total food intake for 21 d by experimental groups (Expt 2).
Bars represent group means and standard deviations for total food intake. Bars that do not share the same letter (a-c) are significantly different.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Body composition of experimental groups on the respective test diets at 21 d: (I) DEXA weight, (II) lean mass, (III) bone mass content and (IV) fat mass.
●Mean (n = 6) per test diet; Means that do not share the same letter (a & b) are significantly different.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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