Compositional Studies of Telfairia Occidentalis Leaves

Abstract

The methods used for food analysis was adopted for the proximate and mineral analysis of Telfairia occi-dentalis leaves. Crude fiber content of 20.17 ± 0.12% in the leaves of Telfairia occidentalis indicated that the leaves of this plant are good sources of dietary fibers compared to the RDA. Higher carbohydrate of 39.64 ± 0.01% lead to a corresponding increase of energy value recorded as 290.16 ± 0.03 Kcal/100g which further confirmed that this plant leaves could serve as a good source of energy. Mineral composition give the result as K (2760.05 ± 0.02 mg/100g), Cu (1.72 ± 0.01 mg/100g), Fe (15.64± 0.04 mg/100g), Mn (15.71± 0.01 mg/100g), Mg (76.46 ± 0.02 mg/100g) and Mg (5.52 ± 0.02 mg/100g) which indicated that the leaves of Telfairia occidentalis are good sources of K, Cu, Fe and Mn, moderate sources of Mg and Zn when compared to their RDA and they are essential in human and animal nutrition.