Nutritional Value of the Alcoholic Beverage “Parshot” as a Staple and Total Nutrition Food in Dirashe Special Worenda, Sounthern Ethiopia

The global incidence of malnutrition has seen a decreasing trend. However, it continues to remain a serious concern in Africa, where people are dependent on rain-fed agriculture and suffer from unstable climate that governs the crop yield. To prevent malnutrition, it is a prerequisite to consume proteins and amino acids, major components of the human body, in addition to grains as an energy source. Nevertheless, the Dirashe people in the semiarid region in Africa manage to maintain health, despite the fact that they are almost entirely dependent on local liquor made of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) and maize (Zea mays) for their nutritional intake. I conducted a participant observation study and an investigation of the content of the meals and amount and frequency of intake; I also obtained samples of sorghum, maize, and alcoholic beverages. The analysis showed that the amount of amino acids in the alcoholic beverage was higher than that in the grains. In addition, the results of the observation study showed that the Dirashe people drink a lot of alcoholic beverages and increase the nutritional value of sorghum and maize by using them to make alcoholic beverages. Most people in Africa improve the nutrient quality of their food intake by cultivating beans; however, the Dirashe people obtain nutrients efficiently by cooking and consuming a limited number of crops. protein, fat, vitamins, and dietary fiber on a constant basis. In other words, lack of these nutrients causes malnutrition. Among these nutrients, the most important are proteins that compose muscles and internal organs, and enzymes and hormones, which catalyse chemical reactions that elicit body functions and 20 types of amino acids, which compose proteins. The human body continues to synthesize and degrade these nutrients, thus requiring constant supplementation. Among these 20 types of amino acids, nine types of indispensable (termed as essential) amino acids, namely isoleucine, leucine, lysine, phenylalanine, tryptophan, threonine, methionine, valine, and histidine cannot be synthesized in the human body [6,7]. Therefore, whether people consume protein having essential amino acids in sufficient quantities is an important criterion in evaluating dietary habits. Generally, human beings acquire calories necessary for their daily activities by consuming large quantities of cereal and root crops as a staple food [8,9]. However, the principal component of cereal and root crops is carbohydrate; thus, the protein content in such foods is not adequate and the amino acids that compose its protein are of poor quality [10,11]. They are particularly in low in lysine content, one of the essential amino acids [11]. Lysine, therefore, functions as the first limiting amino acid and restricts efficient intake of other essential amino acids as well. Therefore, along with cereal and root crops, human beings consume meat, fish, dairy products such as milk, yogurt, and butter, and pulses in order to supplement protein of good quality and essential amino acids [9]. French, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, and Indian cuisines, which are known worldwide, consist of cereals or potatoes such as bread, pasta, rice, noodles, and naan (flatbread), and animal protein such as meat, fish, milk, yogurt, and butter or plant protein such as beans. In this regard, most of the food cultures around the world efficiently combine various foodstuffs to take in nutrients required for subsistence. This also applies to food culture in Africa, where many suffer from malnutrition. People in Kenya and Tanzania in Eastern Africa eat ugari, local porridge of degummed texture made of grain flours (sorghum (Sorghum bicolor)), pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), finger millet (Eleusine coracana), or maize (Zea mays) and boiled Yui Sunano* Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences and School of Agricultural Sciences, Nagoya University, Japan *Address for Correspondence Yui Sunano, Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences and School of Agricultural Sciences, Nagoya University, Nagoya City 457-4 Motoyama, Kamigamo, Kita-ku, Kyoto, 603-8047, Japan, Tel: 81-52-789-4057; E-mail: yui.sunano@gmail.com Submission: 30 March, 2017 Accepted: 22 May, 2017 Published: 9 June, 2017 Copyright: © 2017 Sunano Y, et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Research Article Open Access Journal of Food Processing & Beverages