International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR) ISSN (Online): 2319-7064 Impact Factor (2012): 3.358 Volume 3 Issue 7, July 2014 www.ijsr.net Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY Development of Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato (OFSP) Based Juice Drink to Help Reduce On Vitamin A Deficiency Lubowa Muhammad 1 , Yerbie Aminah 2 , Kisambira Abbas 3 1 Islamic University in Uganda, Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Mbale, Uganda Abstract: VAD is a serious public health problem in many developing countries. The aim of this research was to develop an acceptable OFSP based drink to help in the prevention of VAD. The drink was formulated from OFSP and Pineapples. The acceptability of the formulations developed was evaluation followed by determining the physico-chemical characteristics of the most accepted juice drink which involved titratable acidity, total soluble solids, pH and vitamin A content as β-carotene. Results indicated that the formulation (F4) was the most accepted followed by F3, F1, F2 and F5. Physic-chemically, the juice drink from the most acceptable formulation has a pH of 4.90, TSS 8.0%, TA 1.4 g/ml and vitamin A content of 9344.08 μg/100 RAE. The developed OFSP based drink has the potential to help reduce on VAD in most developing countries. Keywords: Orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, Ipomoea batatas, VAD, Juice 1. Introduction Sweet potatoes are native to the tropical Americas and were first cultivated at least 5,000 years ago [1]. They spread very early throughout the region including the Caribbean now known as southeastern United States [2]. They were brought to Europe by Spanish and Portuguese explorers and sweet potato cultivation quickly spread throughout much of the Old World up to Africa [3]. There are various varieties of sweet potatoes like the purple sweet potato known as ‘okinawan’, the o’henry sweet potato which is white with a cream colored flesh [4]. The most important variety of interest in this study is the orange fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) which is known to be very rich in vitamin A [4]. Scientifically the orange fleshed sweet potato also known as ipomoea batatas is a member of the convolvulaceae family of flowering plants [3], [5]. In Uganda, about 19 OFSP clones a believed to have been introduced from CIP Lima and Peru in February 2001 [6], but two landrace cultivars of OFSP, designated as ‘SPK004’ (‘Kakamega’) and ‘Ejumula’ are the ones widely grown as a result of farmer–to-farmer exchange or purchase of planting materials and promotions by nongovernment organizations, schools, farmer groups and government departments. Most cultivars have spreading vines and vigorous growth with dense foliage that suppresses aggressive weeds [7]. The flower color in most cultivars is the same pale purple limb with purple throat. Flowering is moderate in ‘SPK004’ and sparse in ‘Ejumula’ whereas capsule formation and seed set are sparse in both cultivars enabling crosses to generate breeding populations under NACRRI conditions without special treatment. According to [6], both cultivars have high root dry matter content (greater than 30%) and a dry texture with a sweet taste when cooked. Flesh color ranges from light orange (orange with yellow patches) in ‘SPK004’ to deep orange in ‘Ejumula’ with intensity varying according to age of roots, location, agro climatic factors such as soil type and season (wet/dry). Vitamin A deficiency is a serious public health problem in many developing countries including most of the countries of eastern, central and southern Africa [8]. It mainly affects the poor, young children (6 months to six years of age), and pregnant and lactating women. The clinical form of vitamin A deficiency, xerophthalmia results when the eye is adversely affected and is expressed as night blindness or at its most severe as total irreversible blindness [9]. Sub- clinical vitamin A deficiency affects many more people an estimated 227.6 million in 2005 and results in increased sickness and death rates due to diseases such as diarrhea and measles among those affected. It also contributes significantly even at subclinical levels to morbidity and mortality from common childhood infections in children [8]. An estimated 2.8 to 3 million pre-school-age children are clinically affected and 251 million more are severely or moderately sub clinically deficient. At least 254 million children of pre-school age are thus "at risk" in terms of their health and survival [8]. The prevalence among pregnant and/or lactating women is ≤1%, which is also a public health problem [10]. The adverse effects of VAD are heightened in developing countries like where abject poverty often prevents people from eating and growing more nutritious food. In such areas the development and dissemination of highly nutritional fortified crop varieties has lagged behind than that of more developed. Traditionally white or yellow sweet potato varieties are grown and eaten in Africa but these provide little or no vitamin A. OFSP was conventionally been bred not just to provide more vitamin A but also to be high yielding and drought tolerant [11]. OFSP has a high content of carbohydrate besides other simple sugars and β-carotene. They also contain protein (1.6g), dietary fiber (3.0g), vitamin C (3%) and vitamin B6 (0.2%). They majorly consumed as the main meal and also used for animal feeds [12]. Pineapples on the other hand mainly contain water, carbohydrates, sugars, vitamins A and C. It contains low amounts of protein, fat, ash and fiber [13]. Pineapples Paper ID: 020141034 283