Anti-nutritional and Toxicological Evaluation of Indigenous Postpartum Soups in Ondo State, Nigeria

Background: Plant based foods used as complimentary traditional medicine is increasingly gaining popularity across culture in the World. The composition of anti-nutritional factors and naturally occurring toxic substances in some of these herbal remedies was largely unknown. Objective: This study determined the anti-nutritional and toxicological evaluation of indigenous postpartum soups in Ondo State, Nigeria Material & Method: Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 12 communities from twelve Local Government Areas in Ondo State. Focus group discussion was conducted to identify postpartum soups, active ingredients used and preparatory methods of soups. Ingredients were procured; recipes were standardized and used to prepare the soups. Soup samples were homogenized, dried, and analysed for anti-nutritional factors using standard laboratory procedures while Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used to determine bioactive toxic compounds and carcinogens in the soups. Data were subjected to ANOVA test while level of significant difference was set at (P<0.05). Results: The result shows that tannins content (0.289mg/g) in Aaru soup was significantly higher (P<0.05) and lower (0.119mg/g) in Marugbo soup while phytate content in Igbagaba soup (1.302mg/g) was significantly (P<0.05) lower but higher in Ubo soup. Oxalate content in all the soups ranges between 0.123mg/g to 0.247mg/g but Alkaloid content in the postpartum soups also ranges between 2.25mg/g in Igbagba and 2.83mg/g in Berekuta soup. Hydrocyanides content of all the soups ranged between 0.460mg/g in Aaru soup to 0.930mg/g in Gbanunu soup while Glycosides content in Ubo soup was significantly (P<0.05) higher (4.68mg/g). Among toxic compounds found in Marugbo, Gbanunu and Aaru soups includes Furan, 2-methyl and 2-Chloroethyl vinyl Sulfide while Hydrazine 1, 2-dimethyl, Trichloro acetic acid decyl ester, and 2, 4-Pentadien-1-ol, 3-ethyl were carcinogens found in Aaru, Amunuya, Ubo, Amunututu and Ifibe soups. The amounts of anti-nutritional factors found in all the soups were within the acceptable safe limit to constitute any health hazard for the postpartum mothers. Conclusion: Therefore, this study confirmed that the postpartum soups contain an appreciable amount of anti-nutritional factors such as Tannins, Phytate, Oxalate, Alkaloids, Saponin, Hydrocyanides and Glycosides while bioactive compounds like Hydrazine,1, 2-dimethyl, Furan,2-methyl, Trichloroacetic acid decyl ester, 2-chloroethyl sulfoxide, and Pentadien-1-ol, 3-ethyl were also found in the soups.