Sweetpotato- and Cereal-Based Infant Foods: Protein Quality Assessment, and Effect on Body Composition Using Sprague Dawley Rats as a Model

The Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS) of sweetpotato-based complementary foods (OFSP ComFa and CFSP ComFa) and cereal-based infant products (Weanimix and Cerelac) was assessed using 3 wk-old male Sprague Dawley rats weighing between 53–67 g as a model for human infants. Also, the effect of consumption of the infant formulations on lean mass, bone mass content and fat mass was evaluated by Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) using 6 wk-old Sprague Dawley rats (initial weight, 206-229 g). The ComFa products and Weanimix are household-level formulations, and Cerelac is a commercial infant cereal. The true protein digestibility score for Cerelac was 96.27%, and about 1.8% (P<0.0001) higher than that for OFSP ComFa, CFSP ComFa and Weanimix. However, OFSP ComFa had the highest un-truncated PDCAAS by a difference of 4.1%, than CFSP ComFa, and about 20% difference compared with both the Weanimix and Cerelac. All the products investigated had PDCAAS greater than 70%, the minimum protein quality requirement for complementary foods. Among the rats assigned to the four formulations, their bone mass and fat mass composition were not significantly different (P=0.08 and P=0.85, respectively). However, the rats on CFSP ComFa had higher lean mass than those on Cerelac (321.67 vs. 297.19 g; P=0.03). The findings from the PDCAAS and the DEXA-measured body composition studies indicate that complementary foods could be formulated from readily available agricultural resources at the household-level to support growth as would a nutritionally adequate industrial-manufactured infant cereal. Nonetheless, it should be noted that the findings of our studies are based on an animal model.