By Enwere, N. J
Some elderly persons (60 years and above), deceases they suffered from and the food they consume were identified. Maize, cocoyam, plantain and soybeans locally available herbs and spices, ripe paw-paw, carrot and raw palm oil were selected from the food they consumed and used for the formulation of easy-to-prepare diets. Criteria for selection were availability, diseases suffered by respondents, medicinal properties and the use of some of the foods for treating and managing disease conditions.. The proximate composition, sensory properties and physical properties were compared with Nutrimax, a commercial elderly diet. Formulated diets had 4.10-7.4% moisture, 21.36-23.82% crude
protein, 2.93-4.37% crude fibre,4.7-6.0 ash, 42.58-51.58 % carbohydrate and 381-431 calories. Their tannins, trypsin inhibitor, oxalate and haemagglutinin contents were reduced to acceptable levels by processing. The carotene content of the diets were tripled by addition of raw palm oil to between 25.42 -30.93 mg/100g. The formulated diet compared favourably with Nutrimax and they were statistically similar. PRODUCT IDEA –Formulated easy-to prepare elderly foods