Calcium Analysis of Selected Western African Foods

Because mineral composition data for Western African foods are incomplete, it is essential to obtain analyses of foods in order to assess the quality of existing food as well as to estimate dietary intake of various minerals, such as calcium. Twenty-eight Western African foods were analyzed for calcium using the method described by Ferguson et al., (1993) and the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) (Padmore, 1990). Calcium concentrations were determined using an inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrophotometer (ICP). Calcium recovery was 94.4% of the expected value with respect to a standard reference material (corn husk). For all foods assessed, the content of calcium ranged from 3.04 to 3630 mg/100 g dry wt. Based on dry weight, the top five foods for calcium in rank order were sorrel leaves (3630 mg/100 g), amaranth leaves (3590 mg/100 g), okra leaves (2850 mg/100 g), onion leaves (2540 mg/100 g), and baobab leaves (2240 mg/100 g). Data from this study provide calcium analyses of some commonly eaten Western African foods, which should help in planning food-based intervention programs to improve mineral nutrition.