Nutritional Effects and Biochemical Studies of Food On Rats : Effect of coagulants on the nutritional quality and biochemical response of rats to food

Tofu is a popular food because of the various nutritional and medicinal attributes associated with soybean products. A coagulated product of soy milk, it is usually made at the household level using various types of coagulants. The effect of the various types of coagulants on several nutritional contents and on the biochemical response of albino rats fed tofu for 14 days revealed that there was no significant difference (P < 0.05) in the tofu yield by each of the coagulants (17.5 - 18.3%). Feeding albino rats exclusively with tofu and water ad libitum for 14 days caused an improvement in all the indicators of liver, kidney and heart function when compared with the control. It is noteworthy that the mineral and proximate compositions of tofu produced by using (as coagulant) water in which fermented maize pap had previously been steeped were significantly higher (P > 0.05) than those of other coagulants. It can be concluded that Tofu has both nutritional and medicinal properties. In this book the functionality of tofu and the hypocholesterolemic effect it has on human health are fully discussed.