COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF NUTRITIONAL AND ANTINUTRITIONAL FACTORS IN NODDLES SOLD WITHIN AWKA METROPOLIS

Abstract

The objective of the study was to compare the nutritional and anti-nutrient of selected instant noodles sold and consumed in Awka metropolis, Nigeria. The proximate analysis, mineral composition (Ca, Mg, K, P, & Fe) and heavy metal (As, Pb, Cr, Hg & Ni) content were determined using standard methods. The result showed that moisture content of sample B (7.80%) was higher than Sample A (5.60%), while higher ash value was reported for sample B (3.18%) with Sample A (2.76%), fiber content were relatively same foe both samples B (7.63%) and A (7.50%), fats and oil was 18.65% in sample B and 15.53% in Sample A, protein
was 1.41% in sample B and 1.36% in Sample A while carbohydrate was 67.12% in Sample A and 57.46% in sample B. Calcium ranges from 33.56 to 77.00Mg/100g with Sample A having the highest value and sample B with the least value. Sample A also have the highest value for magnesium (43.50 Mg/100g) while sample B have the least value (22.80 Mg/100g). Phosphorus analysis showed that Sample A had highest occurrence (191.60 Mg/100g). Arsenic was lower in Sample A (0.117mg/kg) than Sample B (0.153mg/kg), lead was also lower in Sample A (0.031mg/kg) than Sample B (0.068mg/kg), Nickel was also lower in Sample A (0.015mg/kg) than Sample B (0.053mg/kg) while chromium was lower in Sample B (0.005mg/kg) than Sample A. The results indicated that Sample A contained the highest concentration of all the mineral analyzed in the study while Sample B have better values in terms of proximate compositions.