Public awareness of the health benefits associated with less-utilised yet nutritious grains has led to a growing demand for healthier cereal products. This has resulted in an interest in improving the nutritional properties of refined white wheat bread, which is one of the main staple foods for most Western nations. Teff is a small-grained cereal that is rich in nutrients and particularly abundant in iron. Therefore, Teff offers the potential to provide a healthier alternative bread product. Female athletes, especially runners are at risk of iron deficiency due to increased iron loss, inadequate dietary iron and limited iron bioavailability in the diet. Good nutrition has been suggested as the first line of action to prevent iron deficiency in this population. As cereals and cereal products are a main contributor to iron in the diet, the modification of dietary iron intakes through a staple food offers a good opportunity to improve the iron status of physically active females. The aims of this research project were 1) to develop a novel, iron-rich bread product by incorporating Teff grain; 2) to explore dietary iron intervention by the means of a staple food product and to measure the effects of this intervention on iron status and exercise performance in female runners. The results indicated that the addition up to 20% of Teff (flour weight) into the bread formulation significantly (P<0.05) increased dietary iron levels without detrimental effects on bread quality. By the use of enzyme combinations, this level was increased to 30%, giving a product that provides over 75% RNI for dietary iron if daily amount of 200g of bread is consumed. A cohort of 11 female runners reported inadequate daily dietary iron intake of 11 mg/day, which was associated with overall compromised iron status. A 6-week dietary intervention resulted in significantly (P<0.05) higher total iron intakes and improved iron tissue supply but not enlarged iron stores. In terms of exercise performance, there were significant (P<0.05) improvements in submaximal VO2 at anaerobic threshold and time-to-exhaustion but not maximal VO2max peak. Moreover, improvements in submaximal gas exchange parameters and endurance were significantly (P<0.05) correlated to improved iron status. It was concluded that Teff bread is a promising iron-rich staple food alternative. It offers the opportunity to improve habitual dietary iron intakes. Favourable trends were observed between improved iron intakes, iron status and exercise performance in this study. Further research is advised to determine the bioavailability of iron from Teff bread and to confirm these findings using larger groups of participants.

La patate douce est un tubercule appartenant à l'ordre des polémoniales et à la famille des convolvulacées. Il contient de l’amidon, qui est l’élément principal, des dextrines, du ß-carotène, puis d’autres éléments nutritifs en quantités variables. L’objectif de la thèse a été de valoriser la patate douce sous forme de farines et de mettre en évidence les potentialités technologiques de ces farines. Deux études complémentaires ont été réalisées au cours de ce travail de thèse, la première concerne l’étude de l’impact des prétraitements thermiques et chimiques sur les propriétés physicochimiques, thermiques, rhéologiques et fonctionnelles des farines issues de patates douces ayant : TPD (tranche de patate douce non prétraitée), TPDCaCl2 (tranche de patate douce prétraitée au CaCl2) et enfin TPDB (tranche de patate douce prétraitée par blanchiment). Il en résulte une légère augmentation de la teneur en sucres réducteurs dans les farines TPDCaCl2 par rapport aux farines TPDB et TPD. Cependant, la valeur de L* (luminance) dans la farine TPDB était inférieure à celles des farines TPDCaCl2 et TPD. La teneur en calcium était relativement élevée dans la farine TPDCaCl2 (120,6 mg/100g) par rapport aux farines TPD et TPDB (respectivement, 77,8 et 67,6 mg/100g). Les valeurs d’enthalpie de gélatinisation et de module élastique (G’) étaient supérieures dans la farine TPDCaCl2. La capacité de gonflement était élevée dans les farines blanchies. Il a également été constaté une légère augmentation de la constante d'énergie de liaison d'eau du modèle BET dans les farines traitées au CaCl2 et une augmentation marquée pour les farines blanchies. De cette étude, on déduit que les farines traitées au CaCl2 possèdent les propriétés physicochimiques les plus intéressantes pour une application en panification et dans la formulation alimentaire. Dans une seconde étude, les essais de panification ont été réalisés avec différents taux d’incorporation à la farine de blé (0, 10, 15, 20, 25 et 30 %) des farines de patate douce traitées au CaCl2 afin de déterminer le taux d’incorporation optimal permettant de réaliser un compromis entre l’amélioration des propriétés nutritionnelles et la diminution des propriétés rhéologiques de la pâte à pain, suite à l’incorporation de farine de patate douce. Les paramètres texturaux des pâtes ont été déterminés. Il en résulte une diminution de la cohésion, la valeur de a* (échelle de couleurs rouge-vert) a augmenté avec l’augmentation du taux de substitution, contrairement aux valeurs de la luminance L* qui ont diminué. Finalement, la farine de patate douce pouvait être incorporée dans une formulation de panification jusqu’à 25 % sans dépréciation notable des qualités organosensorielles des pains / Sweet potato is an edible tuber belonging to the order of Solanales and Convolvulaceae family. It contains starch, which is the main component, dextrins, ß-carotene, and other nutrients in varying amounts. The thesis aimed promoting the use of sweet potato as flour by highlighting its nutritional potential. Two complementary studies were carried out in this thesis work, the first concerned the study of the impact of thermal and chemical pretreatments on physicochemical, thermal, rheological, and functional properties of sweet potatoes flours obtained after different pretreatments : TPD (unpretreated sweet potato slices), TPDCaCl2 (CaCl2- pretreated sweet potato slices) and finally TPDB (bleached sweet potato slices). These results show a slight increase in reducing sugar content in TPDCaCl2flour compared to TPDB and TPD flours. However, the value of L* (luminance) in the TPDB flour was below the ones ofTPDCaCl2 and TPD flours. The calcium content was relatively high in TPDCaCl2 flour (120.6 mg / 100 g) compared to TPD and TPDB flours (respectively, 77.8 and 67.6 mg / 100g). The gelatinization enthalpy and elastic modulus (G’) were higher in the TPDCaCl2 flour. The swelling capacity was high in bleached flour. It was also noticed a slight increase in the water binding energy constant of the BET model in CaCl2-pretreated and blanched. In this study, it was deduced that the flours pretreated with CaCl2 have physicochemical properties interesting for bakery and food formulation applications. In the second part of the thesis study, baking tests were carried out with different levels of incorporation to wheat flour (0, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 %) of the CaCl2-pretreated sweet potato flour in order to determine the optimal incorporation level allowing the compromise between improved nutritional properties and the decreased rheological properties of the dough, due to the sweet potato flour incorporation. Textural parameters of doughs were determined. This resulted in a decrease in cohesion and an increase in the value of a* (red - green color scale) with increasing the degree of substitution, in contrast to the luminance L * values which felt. Finally, sweet potato flour could be incorporated into a bread formulation up to 25 % without significant impairment of sensory organic qualities of bread