Fortification of Human Diet with Leaf Protein Concentrate

Abstract

Available food supplies are considered inadequate to meet the demand of anticipated increase in the world population1-5. Pakistan imports substantial amounts of food supplies to cater the needs of its population. A large section of Pakistani population lives at sub-human standards and needs drastic improvement in its nutritional standards.6 Even though a controversy is going on whether there is a shortage of protein or calories in human diet, there is no doubt that much larger supplies of food will be needed to meet the demand of the increasing population. Plant foodstuffs such as potatoes, cassava and various cereals constitute an important dietary source of protein for many segments of world’s population, particularly where animal protein is in short supply or is forbidden by cultural and religious practices.7 One of the most serious disadvantages of these types of foodstuffs is their low protein content. Nutritionists in different parts of the world are investigating the possibilities of supplementing diets with novel sources of protein. One such source is “Leaf Protein Concentrate”. Large scale production of Leaf Protein Concentrate was accomplice by Morrison and Pirie.8 Shah and his associates9-17 carried out extraction of proteins from grasses and plants abundantly available in Pakistan. LPC was found to contain 35-60 proteins9. Amino acid profile of the concentrate was found to be fairly balanced and is comparable with FA 0 reference protein.18 LPC contains 6-10% crude lipids9, which are mostly with 2 or 3 double bonds19-20. These lipids provide energy and essential fatty acids to the body. LPC produced from Pakistani grasses was found to contain 1.01-1.41 mg/g of carotene18. W.H.O. recommended a daily allowance of 1.8 and 4.5 mg for 7-year-old and adults respectively.21 LPC fortified dishes thus can supply adequate amounts of B carotene. High quality of LPC was established by feeding trials on rats, chicken and rams9. Very few studies have been done on the incorporation of LPC into food preparations for human use. Fewer still are the data available on the acceptability of food preparations with LPC.22-24 Waterflow25 replaced the milk Jamaican infants suffering from malnutrition with LPC. The leaf protein was acceptable and the infants recovered and grew well. Singh26 added 4% LPC to die for Indian children for a period of six months. The children receiving small supplement of LPC showed twice the weight end height gain of the controlled children maintained on the same unsupplemented diet. In Nigeria children suffering from severe protein-calorie malnutrition were given one table spoon of LPC in addition to their native foods27. It was observed that within one period of ten days the appetite of the children improved, edema disappeared and serum protein increased. A large-scale comparative feeding trial with LPC has recently been terminated in Coimbatore, India. This trial was conducted for two years with 600 children. A preliminary feeding trial in which LPC fortified dishes were compared with milk was successfully concluded at APWA Headquarters in 1975. Therefore, a feeding trial on 100 subjects was organized for a period of eight months.