Nutritional evaluation of children meals at Egyptian schools: II – Amino acids, minerals and vitamins profiles

Adequacy diets play an important role especially for primary school children aged from 6 to 12 years, to support normal growth and development. Appropriate amounts of amino acids, vitamins and minerals are required since a deficient intake of certain minerals can produce diseases and lead to abnormal development. In this way, the amount of amino acids, vitamins and minerals must be suitable with the edible portions of diets prepared for children. A school meal (pie) was prepared in this study. The meal was evaluated for its proximate composition, amino acids, minerals and vitamins. The total protein content of the pie was 9.70%. This formula contained high percentage of essential amino acids. The percentage of total essential amino acids in the protein was 42.46%, it was rich in cysteine (2.29%), valine (11.48%), isoleucine (5.25%) and phenyl alanine (5.58%) compared to those of casein. The essential amino acids index (EAAI) was also higher than casein being 0.85 and 0.83, respectively. The first limiting amino acid in meal protein was lysine. On the other hand, the content of Fe in 100 g of the experimental meal covered 11.07% of FAO/WHO daily allowance. Also, the prepared pie was rich in vitamins A, D, B complex and C, their contents in 100 g of meal covered FAO/WHO daily requirements except vitamin E. Therefore, results indicated that the prepared meal contained a complementary amino acid profiles, minerals and vitamins.