IJSRCH18351 | Received : 01 Nov 2018 | Accepted : 09 Nov 2018 | November-December-2018 [ 2 (5) : 01-09 ] International Journal of Scientific Research in Chemistry (IJSRCH) | Online ISSN: 2456-8457 © 2018 IJSRCH | Volume 3 | Issue 5 1 Comparative Study on the Nutritional Profiles of Selected Varieties of Watermelon, Banana, Avocado fruits in Ogun State Nigeria Madu A. N 1 , Njoku M. I. 2 , Showami O. A. 2 1 Industrial Chemistry Department, Crawford University Faith City Igbesa Ogun State Nigeria 2 Biochemistry Department, Crawford University Faith City Igbesa Ogun State Nigeria [Contact e-mail]: madic_chem@yahoo.com; alexander@crawforduniversity.edu.ng ABSTRACT Results of analysis conducted to determine the nutritional profiles of selected varieties of water melon, banana and avocado pear show that banana has the highest carbohydrate concentration 21.96 mg/ml followed by avocado pear 7.75g/ml and watermelon with the least carbohydrate concentration 5.90g/ml. Avocado pear showed the highest protein content with about 2.25mg/ml while watermelon has the least value, about 0.70mg/ml, banana only showed values of about 1.30mg/ml. The pH values of these fruits are all within acidic range with banana as the lowest 5.10, followed by avocado 5.15, and watermelon as the highest pH value 6.0. The titrable acidity of watermelon was highest at 6.4, followed by avocado/pear 5.22 and banana 5.30. The moisture content of watermelon showed the highest value of about 92.05 followed by avocado pear with about 71.05 and the least was banana with about 68.3. The ash content of the fruits was least with avocado pear with about 1.2 while banana had about 5.60, and the highest was watermelon with about 7.00. Watermelon has the highest fiber about (37.14) followed by avocado pear (10.86), and the least was banana (8.71). Avocado showed the highest value in calcium with about 52.0 mg, then banana with 24.5 mg and the least was watermelon with 10.5 mg. Banana has high amount of phosphorus with 42.2 mg, avocado had 35.5 mg while watermelon had 25.02 mg. Zinc in watermelon was 1.84mg/100g, banana had the least value 1.79mg while avocado had the highest value at 2.85 mg. Iron content in watermelon is highest with about 3.02 mg, avocado had 2.07 mg while banana had 3.0mg. Water melon also showed the highest vale in magnesium at 75.02 mg with avocado pear following closely at 72.08 mg while banana was the least at 70.05mg Keywords : Water Melon, Banana, Avocado, Protein, Fibre I. INTRODUCTION One of the most significant aspects of our diet is constituted by fruits such as oranges, lemon, pineapple, pear, banana, watermelon, bell apple, English apple, star apple, grapes, berries, etc. These fruits are cultivated in local farms, orchards, gardens and plantations in local communities in form of fruit trees. Fruits contain vitamins and phenolics, (e.g. flavonoids, glucosides, hydroxycinnamic acids (Marchland, 2002) and carotenoids (Rao and Rao, 2007). Fruits are also rich in minerals, carbohydrates in form of soluble sugars, cellulose and starch (Nahar et al, 1990). They are very vital portion of human diet and serve as food supplements and appetizers. Fruits are also consumed because of the health role they play in our body. Vitamin C is important in maintaining and controlling of scurvy in case of deficiency (Holley et al, 2011). It also assists in the maintenance of cell membrane integrity especially in cutaneous and sub-cutaneous