Nutritional and Antinutritional Composition of Sclerocarya birrea Fruit Juice

Abstract

The juice of Sclerocarya birrea fruit was evaluated for its nutritional and antinutritional compositions. The results show that the total solid, ash, crude protein, crude lipid, available carbohydrate and energy value are 12.32g/100cm3, 5.05%, 3.31%, 1.30%, 90.35% and 386.34kcal/100g dry weight respectively. The results of minerals content indicate that, the juice is a good source of both macro and micro elements with calcium as predominant. The 100 cm3 juice contained reasonable amount of pectin (2.10g), vitamin C (0.49g), glucose (0.21g) and sucrose (0.76g). Concentrations of hydrocyanic acid, nitrate, oxalate, and phytate are lower than the reference toxic standard level. The juice of the plant could have a potential nutritional uses.