Nutritional and Antioxidant Profile of Two Traditional Foods From Eastern Cameroon

Abstract

This work aimed to assess the nutritional and antioxidant profiles of two traditional foods widely consumed in the Eastern Region of Cameroon (ERC). An ethnofood survey highlighted that the ERC has a great diversity of traditional recipes, among which Koko and Mbol, prepared with Beilschmiedia anacardioides and Gnetum africanum , respectively, are the most consumed. Koko and Mbol contained 67.46% and 75.29% of carbohydrates, 20.21% and 13.43% of fat, 423.68 mg/100 g and 81.19 mg/100 g of iron, 0.918 ± 0.12 and 0.622 ± 0.27 mg GAE/100 g of phenolic components and 0.541 ± 0.21 and 0.332 ± 0.23 mg CE/100 g of flavonoids, respectively. These results indicate that both foods can contribute substantially to dietary energy and micronutrient intake and therefore combat anaemia, caused by iron deficiency in the population of ERC. Consequently, promoting the consumption of these traditional foods, which can be inserted into the official food composition table of Cameroon, might support nutritional strategies aimed at improving public health in the region.