Risk assessment of antinutrient consumption of plant foods of south eastern Nigeria.

The risk assessment of anti-nutrient of consumed plant food of South Eastern Nigeria were estimated from actual quantity of plant food diet and the values compared with known risks levels from existing biological studies. The foods studied were yam, rice, garri, cassava fufu, tapioca and cowpea. Using the proportion of anti-nutrient composition of the plant food by weight, the anti-nutrients consumed were calculated from the weight of consumed food. The antinutrients were measures in mg/kg of food. The results show that the levels of lectin (0.05 mg.kg), cyanide (0.21-5.78 mg/kg) acceptable by existing studies while levels of phytate (23.5-130.65 mg/ kg), oxalate (4.7-95.6 mg/kg) and tannin (108.3 mg/kg) are high enough to be associated with health risk and further studies should be carried out to authenticate Maximum Residual Limits (MRL) of these ante nutrients in human to determine whether the levels on the foods consumed should be reduced or allow them as they are.