European Journal of Nutrition & Food Safety

Objectives: To determine and improve bioavailability of iron and zinc in chickpea and bean varieties released from research center using food processing strategies applicable at household scale

Methods: Two varieties of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) namely Habru and Mastewal and two varieties of bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) namely Hawassa Dume and Nasir were obtained from Debreziet and Hawassa research center, respectively. Subsample of seeds were subjected to food processing treatments including soaking for 12, 24 and 48 hours, and germination for 24, 48 and 72 hours. Local recipe was used to prepare dishes with and without treatments (control). Mineral and moisture contents were determined by FAAS and AACC methods, respectively. All experiments were carried out in duplicate.

Results: Mineral analysis of raw chickpea varieties indicated that Mastewal had higher zinc (4.5±0.01 mg/g) and calcium (154.3±5.1 mg/g) while Habru had higher iron (4.6±0.1 mg/g). Iron content of all bean based dishes was in a range of 5.8±0.2 and 6.3±0.2 mg/100 g. Iron varied from 2.8±0.2 to 4.6±0.1 mg/100g in chickpea based dishes with significance difference in seeds germinated for 48 and 72 hour. Zinc ranged from 1.9±0.1 to 3.4±0.1 mg/100g and from 2.9±0.1 to 3.8±0.3 mg/100g in chickpea and bean dishes respectively. Calcium was found between 79.1±2.1 and 173±14.6 mg/100 g in all dishes.

Conclusions: Mineral content of chickpea and bean based dishes were well retained in most of the dishes except in 72 hour germination treatment groups. This information is useful in development of food based strategies to tackle micronutrient deficiency. Anti-nutrients in the dishes are being evaluated.