• 2020-11-10
• Karigidi K.O, Dada I.O, Akintimehin E.S, OMOTADE J.O, Adetuyi F.O
• Volume 2, Issue 2

Abstract

Tubers are important staple food in many tropical countries because of their nutritional, economical and health functionality values. Four different tubers Dioscorea rotundata (DR), Dioscorea alata (DA), Dioscorea dumetrum (DD), Colocasia esculentum (CE)) were selected in this study with the aim of evaluating their nutritional, functional and antioxidant properties. Nutritional properties were assessed by proximate and minerals assays, functional properties by titratable acidity, bulk density and water absorption capacity while antioxidant was assessed by total phenolics, total flavonoids, total antioxidant capacity, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and reducing power. All assays were done using standard methods. CE has significantly (p< 0.05) higher carbohydrate content and bulk density, DD has the highest crude fat content, DR has the highest moisture content while DA has the highest ash content. On the mineral contents CE has the highest content of magnesium; DR has the highest content of potassium while DD possessed the highest content of calcium and sodium. DA has the highest antioxidant ability of all the tubers investigated which is significantly (p< 0.05) higher than the other tubers. From this study, it can be concluded that these tubers possessed appreciable nutritional, functional and antioxidant qualities. Therefore they could be used in prevention, management and treatment of oxidant-related diseases.

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