One of the world s greatest challenges is to secure adequate food that is healthy, safe and of high quality for all (Hunter and Fanzo, 2013). Among the different type of malnutrition,'Hidden hunger', a deficiency of micronutrients vitamins and minerals is particularly severe, and affects as many as 3 billion people globally (FAO, 2013). This type of malnutrition and obesity frequently exist side by side, causing a'double burden'(FAO, 2013). Minerals are naturally occurring chemical elements the body uses to help perform certain chemical reactions (Ikwechi and Ikwechi, 2009), and they are essential for the normal functioning of muscles, heart, nerves, and in the maintenance of body fluid composition as well as for building strong bones (Chaney, 2006).

Traditionally, the diets of early population were based on traditional food with wide range of crops including Neglected and Underutilized Species-NUS which led to healthier population, holistic life, free from most of the modern day diseases. With recent wave of economic depression and its attendant effect on the purchasing power of the population of less developed nations, it has become obvious that the local food stuffs will play increasing role in the food, nutrition and health security of the rural people and the increasing urban poor (Aja et al., 2010). In addition, recent international fora have emphasized the importance of biodiversity for food security and health and its central role in household food security and income generation (Bisselua and Niang, 2013). Among the local food, sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.) is estimated to play a vital role in combating the food shortages and malnutrition (Naskar et al., 2008) due to its contents of various kinds of physiologically functional components in