Dietary Supplementation of Tarhana with Soya Bean Flour and Fish Protein Concentrate

Protein malnutrition is a problem in a major portion of the world where good quality protein sources are in short supply and expensive. Extensive studies have been carried out in order to improve the protein quality of certain existing foods which may be more abundant in a given community.

In this study the protein quality of a Turkish soup, tarhana, was determined by measuring its Net Protein Utilization (NPU), Diets containing tarhana were fed to rats at a level which gave 10 percent protein. The effect of supplementing tarhana with either soya bean flour or fish protein concentrate on the NPU was also investigated. The resulting NPU values were compared with the NPU of a. 10 percent casein diet which served as a control.

In determining the NPU values, two methods of estimating total body nitrogen were employed, These were calculation from total body “water utilizing a regression equation computed for the rats of the Wistar strain and determination by chemical analysis of the carcass. Both of these methods gave similar results.

It was found that the NPU of tarhana was significantly inferior to that of a case in diet, but could be improved to compare favorably with case in when soya bean flour is incorporated at a 20 percent level during the preparation of tarhana. The addition of fish pro t e in concentrate at a 3 percent level also tended to improve the protein quality of tarhana, but in view of the skin rash and poor growth that was observed in rats fed the tarhana with fish protein concentrate diet, more research may be necessary before this product could be prescribed as a supplement to tarhana.