Protein-rich food mixtures for feeding the young in Egypt. 1. formulation

Ten protein-rich food mixtures were suggested. They are based on popular dishes which could be prepared simply at home. Such mixtures were prepared from seeds or legumes available in the local markets at reasonable prices. These ingredients are polished rice, decorticated lentils, defatted sesame flour, whole or roasted chick peas (dehulled), maize bread, sun flour kernels, fenugreek seeds, wheat (whole grains or parboiled grains), white wheat flour, defatted peanut flour, defatted sesame flour and dry yeast. The protein content of such food mixtures ranged from 17.7 to 23.2%, which is in agreement with recommended values. Defatted sesame flour was incorporated in most of the mixtures in order to correct for their sulphur-containing amino-acids as it is already known that sesame is a rich source of sulphur-containing amino acids in comparison to other vegetable sources. Further investigations are going on to determine the nutritive value of the formulated mixtures before feeding them to the children.