Functional Sweet Potato Flour: Harnessing Biofortification for Nutritious Food Innovation

Functional sweet potato flour is an innovative, naturally coloured food ingredient developed from biofortified sweet potatoes. Finely milled and versatile, it offers promising applications in bakery products, confectionery, weaning foods, lattes, ice creams and smoothies. Being gluten-free and easy to digest, it provides dietary fibre, bioactive compounds and antioxidants, making it a valuable ingredient for health-conscious and functional food formulations.

Two nutrient-rich variants offer distinct functional benefits:

•Anthocyanin-rich sweet potato flour: Contains 1.23 mg/100 g dry weight of anthocyanins and 11.45 mg GAE/100 g of total phenolic compounds. Its antioxidant activity measures 0.35 mM Trolox/g (DPPH) and 0.57 mM Trolox/g (ABTS).

•Beta-carotene-rich sweet potato flour: Contains 25.26 mg/100 g dry weight of beta-carotene and 7.24 mg GAE/100 g of total phenolic compounds. Its antioxidant activity measures 0.39 mM Trolox/g (DPPH) and 0.42 mM Trolox/g (ABTS).

This innovation creates new opportunities for value addition to biofortified sweet potatoes, enabling the development of naturally coloured, nutrient-rich food products while supporting food diversification and improved nutritional choices.

(Source: ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute Sreekariyam)