True Nutrient Retention Factor of Some Commonly Consumed Traditional Diets in Some States of Northwest Geo-political Zone, Nigeria

A nutrient retention factor indicates the amount of specific nutrients remaining in a food after it has been prepared or processed, providing a more accurate assessment of the nutrient content of the final dish. Cooking and preparation methods may cause the nutrient content of diets to be lost or reduced. This research is aimed at evaluating the true nutrient retention factor of some commonly consumed traditional diets in some states of the northwest geo-political zone in Nigeria. The study was divided into two phases. Phase I involves the administration of questionnaires across the states under study, while phase II involves the determination of nutrients and anti-nutrient content of the recipe and prepared diets, as well as calculating the true nutrient retention factor of the selected prepared diets using standard methods. Based on the responses of the respondents, twelve (12) commonly consumed diets were selected for the study from Jigawa, Kano, and Katsina (four diets from each state). Results of % true nutrient retention indicate that TWM SWKS appeared the most highly selected/consumed in all three states, yet it appeared to have the least nutrient retention factor. Therefore, effort should be geared towards adapting processing methods and cooking time to minimize nutrient loss.