Abstract
In northern Nigeria the seeds of the cereal Eleusine coracana (finger millet), called ‘pwana’ by the Birom and ‘tamba’ by the Hausa, are used as a supplemental food taken in the form of tea or a porridge-like meal. Seeds were analyzed for fatty acid, amino acid and mineral contents. They contained 12 mg/g total fatty acid, 42% of which was oleic acid (C18:1n-9), 21% palmitic acid (C16:0), 25% linoleic acid (C18:2n-6) and 4% α-linolenic acid (C18:3n-3). The linoleic acid/α-linolenic acid ratio (6.5:1) was within the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation (5:1 to 10:1). Although the total protein content of E. coracana was relatively low (6.9% dry weight), its protein composition compared favorably to that of the WHO standard for all of the essential amino acids except lysine. E. coracana seeds contained only 49% of the WHO ideal for lysine, but 436% of the WHO ‘ideal’ for tryptophan. In terms of mineral content, E. coracana is a useful source of calcium, phosphorous, and copper, and an excellent source of chromium, iron, magnesium, manganese, molybedenum and selenium. These data indicate that while E. coracana does not provide a complete food source in terms of its qualitative and quantitative fat, protein or mineral contents, it does contain appreciable quantities of a number of essential nutrients that make it a useful food supplement for the people of northern Nigeria.
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Fernandez, D.R., Vanderjagt, D.J., Millson, M. et al. Fatty acid, amino acid and trace mineral composition of Eleusine coracana (Pwana) seeds from northern Nigeria. Plant Foods Hum Nutr 58, 1–10 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:QUAL.0000040323.67339.cb
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:QUAL.0000040323.67339.cb