Nutritional and antinutritional evaluation of gluten free pasta from cocoyam starch and lima bean flour

Abstract

Pasta is a wheat-based food product which has gained universal popularity in recent years due to its versatility, low cost, ease of preparation and nutritional quality. It is traditionally produced from wheat that is largely imported in Nigeria, placing a heavy burden on the dwindling financial resources of the nation. Efforts are currently being made to develop new processing techniques that can increase utilization of locally grown crops in food production in order to reduce wheat importation,. Cocoyam and lima beans are gluten free underutilized indigenous tropical crops with rich nutritional profile which can be used to replace wheat flour in pasta production. This study therefore aims at developing  gluten free pasta from lima beans flour and cocoyam starch. Composite blends of pregelatinized cocoyam starch, germinated lima beans flour and xanthum gum (binder) were formulated in the following ratio: (100:0, 87.5:12:5, 75:25, 62.5:37.5 and 50:50) and used to produce pasta. The protein content of gluten free pasta ranged from 6.54 -18.82%, moisture content obtained ranged from 9.06-10.56% while the carbohydrate content ranged from 59.29-74.30%. Mineral content  of gluten free pasta ranged from 61.54-108.20 mg/100g for calcium and 0.94-6.09mg/100g for iron. Lysine values increased from 2.63(100% Wheat Flour Pasta) to 3.85(50%GCS , 50% GLBF & xanthum gum) while total amino acid ranged from  53.66-83.11. The study concluded that pregelatinized cocoyam  starch and  germinated lima beans flour blends are effective in developing acceptable gluten free pasta