Biological Evaluation of Cupcake Made with Wheat Flour Enriched with Chickpea, Purslane, Doum and Carob Flours as Functional Food for Patients with Anemia

Iron deficiency and specifically iron deficiency anemia remains one of the most severe and important nutritional deficiencies in the world today. In this study chickpea ,purslane, doum and carob flours were used as natural sources for production of the functional food (cupcake) for anemic patients. Cupcake supplemented with 80% wheat flour and 20% chickpea) replacement (had the highest score sensory evaluation. Supplementation of cupcake made from 80% wheat flour, 20% chickpea flour partially replacement of wheat flour with   purslane  leaves r, doum and carob powders at 7.5, 7.5 and 15%, respectively which  had the highest score sensory evaluation. In double-fortified experiment were tested for their efficacy in managing iron deficiency anemia (IDA) in rats. Seven groups of female Wistar rats (n = 6) were used. The study was divided into two phases, viz., the development of anemia in the first phase by providing five groups with diet free of iron for 21 days and the rest two groups provided with normal basal diets, then second phase the random division of anemic rats into five groups feeding the experimental tested diets for 56 days The hemoglobin (Hb) concentration value, serum iron (SI), body weights, blood parameters and weights of all rats groups were measured. The biological examination revealed that the (G4) , (G5 (G6) and carob(G7) induced the greatest improvement effect on body weight gain in anemic rats as compared to (G2) which contained 92.69, 106.48, 101.18 and 102.05% in, G4, G5, G6 and G7, respectively compared with 37.32% in G2. The hematological and biochemical analyses showed that the changes in blood picture, serum iron, serum proteins levels were in favor of supplementation chickpea flour with purslane, doum and carob products when compared to (G2).The  RBCs, Hb, Hct, MCV and MCH increased significantly. Moreover results indicated that administration of the supplemented  diets was associated with an  improvement in the levels of alanine aminotransferase ,aspartate aminotransferase, urea, creatinine and uric acid compared with the IDA model group and a significant decrease the levels of albumin and total protein were recorded. Lipid profile indicated that a significant decrease in triglycerides, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and VLDL-cholesterol, which HDL-cholesterol increased significantly in G4, G5, G6 and G7 compared with those in G2. It can be concluded that  chickpea flour with purslane, doum and carob products have good nutritive value and positive response on blood picture and serum biochemical parameters in anemic rats. Therefore, this study recommend that intake of chickpea, purslane, doum and carob powders may be beneficial for patients who suffer from iron deficiency anemia due to their nutritional and restorative properties.