Evaluation of pasting and anti-nutritional properties of wheat-plantain flour blends fortified with velvet bean

Wheat flour is a powder made from the grinding of wheat used for human consumption. It is a flour of choice in confectionary industries due to the component gluten Plantain is a popular dietary staple crop in Nigeria due to its versatility and good nutritional value. It is starchy, the less sweet variety can be used either ripe or unripe, they are very good sources of carbohydrate for more than 50 million people. Velvet bean (Mucuna pruriens), belongs to the Fabaceae family, it is part of various legumes which is not commonly used by people as a result of anti-nutrients. Velvet bean is commonly grown in the tropical and subtropical part of the world. This study therefore investigated effect of inclusion of velvet bean on the pasting and anti-nutritional factors of wheat-plantain flour blends. The procured velvet bean and plantain were thoroughly washed, peeled, dried and converted into flours. Wheat, plantain and Velvet flours composite were prepared in the ratio 240:37.5:22.5, 210:60:30 and 150:105:45 respectively and 100% wheat flour was used as the control. The samples were evaluated for their pasting and anti-nutritional properties. pasting revealed that peak ranged from 1928.50-4972.50 Trough, 1054.00-3563.00, breakdown 692.50-1408.00, final viscosity 2077.00-5789.50, setback 968.00-2226.00, peak time 5.10-5.79 min and pasting temperature 80.79-83.14 0C. Anti-nutritional factors revealed that Tannin ranged from 20.01-219.25, Oxalate 24.56-448.79, trypsin inhibitors 10.31-20.70, Phytate 5.67-6.44 and Saponin 0.00-1.87 mg/100g. Addition of plantain and velvet beans flours significantly (p < .05) improved the final viscosity, peak, trough and the setback of the flour blends. The phytochemical properties of the composites indicated significant (P < .05) oxalate, phenolic, flavonoid and saponin increased which makes them suitable as anti-aging, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-hypertensive agents