Evaluating the Chemical Composition of Food Mixtures Prepared for Pregnant Women and Calculating their Cost and Energy Content

Abstract

Some physiological changes occur in a woman’s body during pregnancy, lead to decrease its ability to eat, nausea, and vomiting. Her needs for nutrients also increase due to the formation of new tissues in the body and the formation and growth of the fetus, which may expose her to malnutrition, affecting the health of her body and the health of her fetus. Therefore, the main goal of this study was to manufacture nutritional mixtures for pregnant women with high nutritional value and easy to prepare. The mixture ingredients included wheat, millet, corn, chickpeas, beans, fava beans, peas, lentils, cowpeas, flax seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, peanuts, walnuts, cashews, almonds. In addition to dates, raisins and full-fat dried milk. Since the stages of pregnancy are divided into three stages according to the development of the fetus. Accordingly, three mixtures were manufactured based on the needs of the pregnant woman and the fetus needs for each stage. Each mixture contained some of the mentioned materials in different proportions and were called mixture (1), mixture (2) and mixture (3). The mixtures were analyzed and the results of the study were as follows. Mixture (1) contained 10.2% moisture, 14.6% protein, 2.01% lipids, 2.3% ash, 70.89% carbohydrates and 342.57 Kcal. Mixture (2) contained 7% moisture, 15.7% protein, 6.07% lipids, 2.6% ash, 68.63% carbohydrates and 374.99 Kcal, while the contents of mixture (3) were 13.33% moisture, 18.35% protein, 27.37% lipids, 2.31% ash, 38.64% carbohydrates and 462.65 Kcal.  From the results, it is clear that mixture (3) contained the highest value of moisture, proteins, fats and energy and the lowest content of carbohydrates, and there were no significant differences in the ash content between it and mixture (1), which has lower ash content compared to mixture (2). Mixture (2) has the lowest moisture content. While, the lowest levels of proteins, fats, and energy were in mixture (1), in contrast to its content of carbohydrates, which was the highest among the three mixtures. The study concluded that these meals are considered complementary meals to the main meals of the pregnant woman and thus provide her with the deficiencies nutrients.