Nutritive value of some wheat based dishes consumed in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Nutrient composition and nutritional quality of six Saudi Arabian dishes based on wheat were studied. The dishes, on fresh weight basis, contained 2.4–6.7% protein (N × 6.25), 0.4–6.0% fat, 10.4–31.4% carbohydrates, 1.7–4.6 dietary fibre, 0.7–2.0% ash and 66–206 kcal per 100 g. The concentrations of vitamin A (Retinol Equivalent), thiamin, riboflavin and vitamin C ranged from 0–411 μg, 0.02–0.06 mg, 0.04–0.94 mg and 0.52–2.87 mg per 100 g respectively. The mineral contents (mg/100 g) were: calcium 0–35.5, phosphorus 5.4–5.9, iron 0.5–1.8, sodium 109.8–305.5 and potassium 49.9–294.7. The dishes contributed 13–20%, 5–27% and 57–82% of the total food energy from protein, fat and carbohydrate respectively. The nutritional quality of all dishes were adequate to meet the protein requirements of all age groups when compared with reference protein energy ratios (PE %).