Consumption and mineral profile of Cochlospermum spp. root powder: A traditional food ingredient in Sudanian zone of Benin (West Africa)

Cochlospermum spp. root powder is widely used by local populations in Sudanian zone of Benin as food ingredient. This study aims at documenting the mineral profile of Cochlospermum spp. root powder and the consumption frequencies of foods enriched with this species in the three phytodistricts of Sudanian zone of Benin. A consumption frequency survey was conducted among 449 women of reproductive age and their children (n = 406) aged 6 to 59 months. Processing follow‐up was performed among twelve (12) selected processors per phytodistict and samples were collected for minerals (Ca, Mg, Na, P, Fe, Zn, Cu, and Mn) analysis. Results showed that most (>75%) women and their children consumed foods enriched with Cochlospermum spp. root powder at least two times per day. The mineral contents (expect Ca and P) of Cochlospermum spp. root powder do not vary significantly according to phytodistricts. High mineral content was obtained for iron (54.1 ± 21.5 mg/100 g dry weight) and calcium (573.7 ± 98 and 802.5 ± 49.9 mg/100 g dry weight, respectively in Atacora Chain and Northern Borgou phytodistricts). Cochlospermum spp. root powder could be used to alleviate iron and calcium deficiencies among populations. Further studies should focus on the bioavailability of minerals and anti‐nutrients content of this plant food.


INTRODUCTION
from scientific communities as a result of their medicinal and food uses. Cochlospermum spp. contribute to complementary diet, health care, monetary income and livelihood security across rural communities in Benin. 4 They are widely used for various purposes, such as food, medicine, dye and handicraft and have a market value. 5,6 As such, Cochlospermum tinctorium root powder is found to be commonly used for sauces among under 5 years old children and their mothers in Sudanian zone of Benin 7 while containing substantial amount of iron up to 70.1 mg/100 g dry weight (dw). 8 Common believes state that C. tinctorium root powder can contribute to alleviate undernutrition. The sauce made from C. tinctorium root powder has interesting minerals content mainly calcium (4867.6 ± 8.2 mg/100 g dw), iron (85.7 ± 0.4 mg/100 g dw) and zinc (19.5 ± 0.8 mg/100 g dw). 7,9 More interestingly, these micronutrients are highly bio-accessible that making C. tinctorium one of the crucial local food ingredient for nutrition status improvement. 7 In addition, rootstocks of C. tinctorium have been reported to be used in some children health care center for nutritional recovery of undernourished children. 9 Despite its great importance for nutrition, there is little knowledge about its nutritional composition. The one study on the proximate composition of Cochlospermum spp. showed that the leaf of Cochlospermum planchoni (Hook, F) and C. tinctorium (A. Rich) contained more crude protein than either the stem or the root. Irrespective of the plant part analyzed, crude protein was numerically higher in C. planchoni than in C. tinctorium. Mean data for the two species showed that total ash in the root (93.0 g/Kg) almost doubled the value of 39.2 g/Kg obtained for the stem. 10 The combination of C. tinctorium root powder with moringa leaf powder and baobab fruit pulp was proposed as a pathway to alleviate iron deficiencies among children aged 6 to 59 months in Benin. 11 Ndouyang, Gaiani, and Scher 12 have also developed a therapeutic infant gruel (with low viscosity) using C. tinctorium root powder as food ingredient. In Sudanian zone of Benin, 13 food uses of Cochlospermum spp. root powder were reported (Affonfere et al. 13 forthcoming). These food uses of Cochlospermum spp. root powder (especially in sauces) coupled with the diversity of sauces consumed in Sudanian zone of Benin are useful indicators for food valorization of the species (Affonfere et al. 13 forthcoming). Nevertheless, the food uses do not mean much if the consumption frequency as well as the nutrients content of the food ingredient (Cochlospermum spp. root powder) are low and/or not bioavailable. Therefore, this study aimed at documenting the mineral profile of Cochlospermum spp. root powder and the consumption frequencies of foods enriched with this species in the Sudanian zone of Benin.

Study area
The present study was carried out in the Sudanian climatic zone of Northern Benin. Benin is located in West Africa between latitude 6 • 10'N and 12 • 30'N and longitudes 1 ′ E and 3 • 40 ′ E with a total area of 114,746 Km 2 . 14 Sudanian climatic zone of Benin republic (9 • 45 ′ -12 • N) 15 is located in the Northern part of the country, where Cochlospermum spp. naturally occurs. 16 It encompasses mainly Ditamari, Berba, Warma, Gurma, Natimba socio-cultural groups whose major socioeconomic activities are pastoralism, agriculture, trade and agribusiness 14,15 . The local economy is agriculture-based 17 and on average 11.2% of the populations is food insecure. 18 Based on a meso-scale analysis of vegetation, soil and climatic conditions, the Sudanian zone of Benin has been sub-divided into three phytodistricts: Northern Borgou, Atacora Chain and Mekrou Pendjari. 19 The most consumed foods in these phytodistricts are maize (Zea  20 The aforementioned authors also presented the most consumed sauces in this zone. There are palm nut sauce with hibiscus sabdariffa leaves and peanut (Arachis hypogea), peanut sauce, sauce of dried baobab (Adansonia digitata) leaves with either cowpea flour or shea (Vitellaria paradoxa) butter, okra (Hibiscus esculentus) fruit and leaf sauce with shea butter and/or cowpea flour and Ocimum sp. leaves sauce with shea butter.

Sampling of informants for survey
Three municipalities were selected per phytodistrict. In each municipality two villages were identified. The municipalities and villages were selected based on the use of Cochlospermum spp. by populations and the processing activities of the species. Table 1 presents the selected municipalities in each of the three (3) phytodistricts of Sudanian zone of Benin.
• Sampling of informants for consumption frequency survey: Consumption frequency survey was conducted with women of reproductive age (WRA) and their children aged 6 to 59 months. They were selected randomly on a voluntary basis whether one of them (mother or children) consume foods enriched with Cochlospermum spp. root powder (CRP). The questionnaire was administrated to 25 WRA and/or their children aged 6 to 59 months per village. A total of 406 children aged 6 to 59 months and 449 women were enrolled.
• Sampling of informants for CRP processing follow-up: A processing follow-up was performed among four randomly selected processors of Cochlospermum spp. root per municipality meaning two processors were selected per village. A total of 36 processors were interviewed.

Data collection and food material sampling for laboratory analyses
Field data were collected from December 2020 to February 2021 on the food frequency of foods enriched with CRP. The number of times each enriched food is consumed per day (daily consumption frequency) and the number of days per week each enriched food is consumed (one-week recall) by WRA and their children aged 6 to 59 months were recorded. Among processors, successive weighting was performed at each processing step and the duration of each unit operation was recorded to set-up a standardized diagram flow chart for Cochlospermum spp. root processing. A sample (100 g) was taken from each selected processor, packed in a laminate package and transported to the lab for laboratory analyses.

Laboratory analyses
The collected samples of CRP were analyzed for their dry matter, ash (total mineral) content, pH, color and for minerals content. All analyses were performed in triplicate except mineral contents which were analyzed in duplicate.

Determination of the contribution of CRP to the minerals harmonized average requirements for children aged 6-59 months
The contribution of 10 g (dry weight) of CRP to the Ca, Mg, P, Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn Harmonized Average Requirements was determined using Equation (1). Indeed, 10 g of food supplement (i.e., moringa leaf powder) was shown to be tolerable for children under 5 years old per day. 26 The Harmonized Average Requirements developed by Allen et al. 27 were used. These Harmonized Average Requirements for minerals are derived from the relevant publications by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). According to the authors, there is no Harmonized Average Requirement for sodium (Na). The mean mineral contents were considered when there are no significant differences among phytodistricts in terms of a mineral while the lowest and highest values were considered when a significant difference is observed.
Cover rate (%) = Minerals contents in 10 g dry weight of CRP Harmonized Average Requirements for Minerals * 100. (1)

Statistical data analysis
The field data collected were recorded in an Access database and analyses were carried out in Excel and R statistic software version 4.0.2. 28 The socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents such as socio-cultural group and main activity for women, age category of children (6 to 12 months, 12 to 36 months, and 36 to 59 months) were described by calculating the relative frequencies (RF, %). The average daily consumption frequency of food enriched with CRP (DCF, number of times per day) was determined for children and their mothers, as followed (Equation (2)).
With DCF: average daily consumption frequency of CRP (number of times per day), n: number of enriched foods consumed by a child or woman, NTCd: number of times of consumption per day of an enriched food, NdCw: Number of days of consumption per week of enriched food. The enriched foods consumed at least by 5% of children or women per phytodistrict were taken into account for the determination of average daily consumption frequency. Physico-chemical characteristics and minerals content of CRP were expressed as mean ± standard deviation. Analyses of variance (ANOVA) were performed to check whether there is significant difference in terms of physico-chemical and minerals contents of CRP between phytodistricts. Chi square or Fisher test (when count data are less than 5) was performed to check differences between phytodistricts while considering consumption frequency of food enriched with CRP among children groups and women. A 5% significance level was considered for all these statistical analyses. In case of a significant difference (p < 0.05) after ANOVA test, the post-hoc Turkey's test was carried out to highlight differences between phytodistricts. The mean mineral contents were further computed when there were no significant differences among phytodistricts.

Processing diagram of Cochlospermum spp. root
Pounding and sun drying are the key unit operations during the Cochlospermum spp. root powder production ( Figure 2). After harvest of Cochlospermum spp. root from the wild, the women removed its bark. Harvest of rootstocks by processors implies the digging out of the whole plant. Afterwards, the roots were homogeneously pounded in a mortar before sun drying in the tray. The dried and pounded root is pounded again with mortar and sieved to obtain Cochlospermum spp. root powder. It appears that from 1500 g of Cochlospermum spp. root, women can produce 242.7 ± 62.6 g of root powder which correspond to 16.9 ± 6.7 (%) of yield ( Figure 2).  Table 3 presents the physico-chemical characteristics of CRP according to phytodistricts. Only ash content and dry matter of CRP vary significantly among the phytodistricts (p < 0.05). The ash content of CRP from Mékrou-Pendjari and Northern Borgou are higher and similar (8.1 ± 1.5 and 8.0 ± 0.9 mg/100 g respectively) while the ash content of the CRP from Atacora Chain is the lowest (5.1 ± 0.2 mg/100 g). CRP from Atacora Chain and Northern Borgou recorded the highest dry matter (95.6 ± 0.4% and 94.9 ± 1.1% respectively) content while the CRP from Mékrou-Pendjari has the lowest dry matter content (93.6 ± 1.0 g/100 g) ( Table 3).

Mineral profile of Cochlospermum spp. root powder
The mineral profile of CRP presented in Table 4 shows no significant difference between the iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), magnesium (Mg), manganese (Mn) and sodium (Na) content between phytodistricts. Accordingly, the mean (in mg/100 g dw) Cochlospermum spp. root powder iron and zinc contents are 54.1 ± 21.5 and 1.0 ± 0.3 respectively. A significant difference (p < 0.05) was observed between phytodistricts in term of the calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P) content of CRP. The calcium contents of CRP from Mékrou-Pendjari and Northern Borgou are similar, 791.3 ± 39.0 mg/100 g dw and 802.5 ± 49.9 mg/100 g dw respectively and higher than the calcium content of CRP from Atacora Chain (573.7 ± 98.7 mg/100 g dw). The phosphorus contents of CRP from Mékrou-Pendjari (72.2 ± 23.1 mg/100 g dw) and Atacora Chain (49.9 ± 9.3 mg/100 g dw) are similar and significantly lower than the phosphorus content of CRP from Northern Borgou (216.9 ± 43.7 mg/100 g dw).

Contribution of 10 g of Cochlospermum spp. root powder to the minerals harmonized average requirements for children aged 6-59 months
Ten gram daily consumption of CRP in dry weight would cover 67.6% of iron Harmonized Average Requirements for children aged 6 to 12 months and more than 100% of iron Harmonized Average Requirements for children aged 12 to 59 months (Table 5). Regarding the zinc, a daily consumption of 10 g of CRP would cover 4.0%, 2.6% and 2.1% of zinc Harmonized Average Requirements for children aged 6 to 12 months, 12 to 36 months and 36 to 59 months respectively. The daily consumption of 10 g of CRP would cover between 14.7 and 20.6% of calcium Harmonized Average Requirements for children aged 12 to 36 months and 8.4 to 11.8% for children aged 36 to 59 months. However, due to the low copper content of CRP, 10 g daily consumption would cover less than 1% of copper Harmonized Average Requirements.

Processing of Cochlospermum spp. root and know-how of producers
Cochlospermum spp. root processing is performed by several women in Sudanian zone of Benin. It involves bark removing, pounding of the roots, sun drying, pounding/grinding of dried root and sieving. According to most processors, TA B L E 5 Contribution (%) of 10 g CRP to the minerals harmonized average requirements for children without removing the white and black bark, the final product is still dark. This may affect the consumers acceptability of Cochlospermum spp. root powder as they are aware of the red color of the product (Affonfere et al. 13 forthcoming; DGFRN 29 ). Nevertheless, it is not clear if the removing of the white bark may impair the minerals content of Cochlospermum spp. root powder. On average, the processing activities of Cochlospermum spp. root take 8 h to have the Cochlospermum spp. root powder. Sun drying is the key step which takes around 95% of the whole processing duration. This sun drying is sometimes compromised in the rainy season where the sun is an issue for processors. To overcome this situation, some processors used hybrid drying techniques (roasting and sun drying) which may alter some nutritional components [30][31][32] of Cochlospermum spp. root powder. The impact of this technique on the nutritional and organoleptic properties of the species needs to be assessed. It could also be necessary to optimize the processing duration by using solar drying equipment as it is the case for moringa leaf. [33][34][35] This may help processors (in most of the cases women) to save time and continue producing during the rainy season by using the sun power accumulators. Nevertheless, the overharvesting of the species is noted (Affonfere et al. 13 , forthcoming) and this will lead to a problem of the sustainable use of the species. Indeed, the harvest of the rootstocks by processors implies the digging out of the species, which lead to the decline of the species population. [36][37][38] It is then imperious to go through the domestication of the species for its sustainable use. The propagation techniques of the species must also be investigated in that framework.

Consumption frequency and acceptability of foods enriched with Cochlospermum spp. root powder
It was noticed that foods enriched with Cochlospermum spp. root powder are consumed by both women of reproductive age and their children aged 6 to 59 months throughout the three phytodistricts of Sudanian zone of Benin. The consumption frequency of these foods varies significantly according to phytodistricts among children aged 6 to 12 months only. This variation could be due to the unacceptability of complementary foods enriched with CRP by children in one phytodistrict as the result of the challenge related to the introduction of complementary foods sometimes and the variation of food preference of children (Harris & Mason 39 ; Lange et al. 40 ; Van 41 ). For example, in Atacora Chain, mothers reported the low acceptability of foods enriched with CRP by children aged 6 to 12 months.
Nevertheless, whatever the target (children or WRA), the average consumption frequency of foods enriched with CRP is at least 2 times per day (among more than 75% of respondents) meaning most of WRA and their children aged 6 to 59 months consumed foods enriched with CRP throughout the day and mostly more than 2 times. The promotion of this species through the development of derivated products of better and acceptable quality to this category of consumers would be an issue to explore. Nevertheless, nutritional data are of interest to better advice populations.

Mineral profile of CRP: Implication for deficiencies alleviation
In this study, mineral content (Fe, Zn, Cu, Mg, Mn, and Na) do not vary significantly according to phytodistrict expect for Ca and P where a significant difference was observed. Stevens, Ugese, and Baiyeri 42 showed that mineral contents of Moringa oleifera did not vary significantly across provenances in Nigeria (except with respect to Ca). 43 also found that there is no statistical significant difference between the climatic zones for micronutrients concentration such as calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and potassium (K) expect for iron (Fe) for Adansonia digitata leaves. Iron content (54.1 ± 21.5 mg/100 g dw) found in this research is ranged between the values of 26.8 ± 2.7 mg/100 g dw and 70.1 mg/100 g dw previously found by Affonfere et al. 11 and Chadare et al. 8 respectively. This iron content of Cochlospermum spp. root powder is similar to the iron content of moringa leaf powder (53.75 ± 5.07 mg/100 g dw) found by Kayalto et al. 44 Then Cochlospermum spp. root powder could probably be promoted as moringa leaf powder to alleviate iron deficiencies among population. For calcium content, the range value found (573.7 ± 98-802.5 ± 49.9 mg/100 g dw) in this research is lower than the value found by Affonfere et al. 11 which is 1061.3 ± 11.5 mg/100 g dw. This discrepancy could be mainly due to the genetic background 45,46 of the Cochlospermum spp. and the physico-chemical characteristics of the soils 43 where the Cochlospermum spp. roots were sampled. Further studies should focus on the link between the soil composition and biochemical and nutritional composition of Cochlospermum spp. root powder. For zinc content, the value obtained is low (0.9 ± 0.0 mg/100 g dw) and similar with the value previously measured (1.0 ± 0.3 mg/100 mg dw) by Affonfere et al. 11 This zinc content is lower than the zinc content of Moringa oleifera leaf powder reported by several authors (Adetola et al. 47 ; Van 48 ). Nevertheless, 10 g dw daily consumption of Cochlospermum spp. root powder would cover 67.6% of iron Harmonized Average Requirements for children aged 6 to 12 months and more than 100% of iron Harmonized Average Requirements for children aged 12 to 59 months. These cover rates are still theoretic and should be considered as maximum and are in reality probably lower as they do not consider the bioavailability of the indicated minerals. Indeed, high nutrient content does not mean much if bioavailability is low. 49,50 Ayosso 9 predicted iron bioaccessibility of 10% for C. tinctorium root powder based on [IP6]/[Fe] molar ratio. Therefore, the iron cover rate will be low (around 10%) based on 10 g consumption of CRP per day. It could be then wise to increase the consumption amount of CRP per day to make a difference in the diet even if iron bioavailability is low. Further studies could focus on the upper acceptability level of CRP in food matrices such as porridges and sauces. Additionality, to overcome the issue of low iron bioavailability and to meet all nutrient requirements, food combination is necessary (Assogbadjo et al. 11 ; Adetola et al. 43 ; Affonfere et al. 47 ; Van 48 ) meaning the composition of the foods where CRP is added is extremely important too. As such, the combination/addition of vitamin C or vitamin C rich foods (i.e., of baobab fruit pulp) can enhance iron bioavailability and iron uptake. 47,51,52 Cochlospermum spp. root powder could be then combined with other food ingredients to increase iron intake among vulnerable groups especially the under 5 years old children. Affonfere et al. 11 formulated a complementary food supplement with the combination of C. tinctorium root powder, Adansonia digitata fruit pulp and Moringa leaf powder as a pathway to deliver nutrient-dense food to children aged 6-59 months.

CONCLUSION
Cochlospermum spp. root powder is well known and consumed in the three phytodistricts of the Sudanian zone of Benin. Foods enriched with this species are consumed by women of reproductive age and their children aged 6-59 months at least 2 times per day. Minerals content of Cochlospermum spp. root powder do not vary significantly between the phytodistricts except for calcium and phosphorus. Cochlospermum spp. root powder was found to be rich in iron and calcium and can therefore be used to alleviate iron and calcium deficiencies in combination with other foods. Further research should focus on the bioavailability of these minerals, the acceptable upper amount of different household members and the anti-nutrients contents of this plant food.