Nutritional and functional evaluation of wheat flour cookies supplemented with gram flour ALI A. YOUSAF 1 , ANWAAR AHMED 1 , ASIF AHMAD 1 , TABASSUM HAMEED 2 , MUHAMMAD ATIF RANDHAWA 3 , IMRAN HAYAT 1 , & NAUMAN KHALID 4 1 Department of Food Technology, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, 2 National Agricultural Research Center, Islamabad, Pakistan, 3 National Institute of Food Science and Technology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan, and 4 Department of Global Agriculture, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan Abstract Protein-enriched cookies were prepared by supplementing gram flour into wheat flour at levels of 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50% and analysed for physicochemical properties. The protein quality of the cookies was assessed by feeding gram flour- supplemented cookies to albino rats for 10 days. The supplementation resulted in a significant increase in protein, fat, crude fibre and ash contents of the cookies. The thickness and spread factor of cookies differ significantly while non-significant effect was observed in the width of the cookies. The protein efficiency ratio, net protein utilization, biological value and true digestibility differed significantly among diets containing cookies with gram flour fed to rats. Cookies with 30% substitution of straight grade flour and gram flour produced acceptable cookies as compared to control. The cookies containing 40 – 50% gram flour were best regarded as protein bioavailability for rats. Keywords: biscuits, chickpea flour, protein enrichment, biological evaluation, malnutrition Introduction Bakery products of cereals are often the mainstay of emergency feeding programmes designed to serve large number of people. Due to the cheap nutritional source of calories and protein, they are used among the masses (Akhtar et al. 2009). However, the prolonged consumption of diet consisting mainly of cereal grains leads to multiple nutritional deficiencies, because cereals fail to supply sufficient amounts of certain essential nutrients such as amino acids, minerals and vitamins (Rehman et al. 2001). Malnutrition due to protein deficiency is an atrocious dilemma among the masses whose diet is generally based on cereals or other starchy foods (Barker 2002; Reilly 2002). Feeding on protein-deficient diets can lead towards many disorders such as breast cancer, colon cancer, heart disease and osteoporosis (Alam et al. 2003; Bhan et al. 2003). Therefore, the utilization of protein-enriched diet is important to fight against infections and diseases as it facilitates production of antibodies to activate our immune system (Friedman 1996; Alexander et al. 1998). The increased costs and limited supplies of animal proteins have geared the present-day research efforts towards the evaluation and utilization of inexpensive locally available protein sources such as high-protein oilseeds and legumes (Enujiugha and Ayodele-Oni 2003). Grain legumes are renowned as important sources of food and feed proteins. In many countries, legume seeds are considered as the distinguishing source of protein in the diet (Marcello and Cristina 1997). Moreover, consumption of legumes is also associated with ISSN 0963-7486 print/ISSN 1465-3478 online q 2012 Informa UK, Ltd. DOI: 10.3109/09637486.2012.694851 Correspondence: Nauman Khalid, Department of Global Agriculture, Graduate School of Agriculture and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1, Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan. Tel: þ 81-80-3385-0786. Fax: þ 81-3-5841-8883. E-mail: nauman_khalid120@yahoo.com International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition, February 2013; 64(1): 63–68 Int J Food Sci Nutr Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by University of Tokyo on 01/07/13 For personal use only.