Chemical and Mineral Bio-availability Composition of Indigenous Vegetable Sauces: Implication for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Chemical and mineral bioavailability composition of indigenous vegetable sauces: implication for type 2 diabetes mellitus was evaluated. Vegetables and ingredients for sauce preparation were purchased from Relief market Owerri, Imo State. The vegetables were used in preparation of okra sauce, African spinach sauce and lettuce sauce. It was oven-dried at 50°C for 14 hours. The sauces were analyzed for proximate, minerals, vitamin, antinutrient while mineral to antinutrient ratios was calculated using standard methods. Statistical analysis using Statistical Product for Service Solution (SPSS) was used to determine one way Analysis of variance (ANOVA) to separate the means while Turkey test model was used to test significant difference. P-value at 0.05 was considered significant. Significant difference was observed only in dietary fibre (p<0.05). Mineral composition showed significant (p<0.05) differences in African spinach sauce for sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc and manganese and only highest in phosphorus for lettuce sauce. Tannin was significantly highest in lettuce sauce and African spinach sauce, for phytate and oxalate in African spinach sauce. All the minerals studied showed high bioavailability. Vitamin composition was significantly (p<0.05) different among the vegetable sauces in all the water soluble vitamin studied but was only significant (p<0.05) for vitamin D for all the fat soluble vitamins in okra sauce. Consumption of these vegetable sauces should be encouraged especially among the type 2 diabetic subjects.