Is β-Carotene-Rich Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potato (OFSP) an Excellent Source of Pro-vitamin A
M. JOSEPH, A. KAAYA, The School of Food Technology, Nutrition and Bio-engineering. Makerere
University, Kampala, Uganda and N. PUPPALA*, Agricultural Science Center at Clovis, New Mexico State
University, Clovis, New Mexico, USA, 88101.
Although peanuts are an excellent source of nutrients such as fats, and proteins, they are inadequate in
one of the essential vitamins, vitamin A which is essential in the diet for maintaining epithelial tissues.
Lack of Vitamin A leads to a condition called Vitamin A deficiency (VAD). We evaluated Pro-vitamin A
carotenoids amongst the different samples of fortified peanut butter [sample A (0% OFSP flour), sample
B (5%OFSP flour), sample C (10%OFSP flour) and sample D (15% OFSP flour)] was determined according
to Harvestplus (2004) method. All samples showed some level of beta-carotene which was increasing
with increasing levels of OFSP flour used to fortify the peanut butter (2.44±0.116 µg/g of peanut butter,
7.95±1.115µg/g of peanut butter, 10.41±0.368µg/g of peanut butter, and 13.88±0.007µg/g of peanut
butter respectively). During time of storage, it was observed that more detrimental effects occurred in
sample A since it had less amount of beta- carotene, high values of peroxides were noted and highly
reduced levels of beta-carotene. Sample C and D did not register significant detrimental effects in the fat
quality as it is stated that the beta-carotene has antioxidative effect and also there was some betacarotene that was retained in the sample at the end of the five months of storage which can provide the
requirements for children below age of 5 years. So it would be best to use high levels of OFSP flour to
fortify peanut butter to be stored to the period of five months.