Protein Digestibility of Weaning Foods Prepared from Rice-Minced Meat and Rice-Mungbean Combination in Infants Using a Short Term Nitrogen Balance Methods

Abstract

Three diets based on rice-dehulled mungbean, rice-minced meat and rice-mungbean with hull were tested with infants 11 to 20 months of age using a short term nitrogen balance technique. The results indicate that with isocaloric and isonitrogenous intake, all the subjects given either of the three diets were in positive nitrogen balance. The protein quality, in terms of nitrogen absorption and true digestibility, of rice-meat diet was superior to that of rice-bean diets. Among the rice-bean diets, it was noted that rice-mungbean with hull had a lower digestibility as compared to rice-dehulled mungbean diet. The poor digestibility of ricemungbean with hull diet is the first limiting factor in its utilization by infants. Dehulling of mungbean before cooking is recommended for preparing weaning food for infant feeding.