Roasting of yam (dioscorea rotundata poir) tuber is an ancient practice in many localities. Although roasted yam bark flake has been associated with potential health risks, roasting of yam remains common among many communities. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of extract of roasted yam bark flake on the complete blood count of treated rats. 150mg/kg body weight of extracts of roasted yam (dioscoR) and boiled yam (dioscoB) were administered to the rats for 21 days. The complete blood counts were determined using hematology analyzer (Mindray 530 BC, China). Data was analyzed using statistical package for social science version 20.0 (IBM statistics Armok, NY, USA) and presented as mean±SD with p˂0.05 considered significant. Rats treated with dioscoR revealed significant decrease in the complete blood count parameters involving the red blood cell, hemoglobin, hematocrit, mean cell volume, mean cell hemoglobin, mean cell hemoglobin concentration, lymphocyte count but an increase in the red blood cell distribution width, white blood cell, neutrophil, eosinophil, monocyte, basophil, platelet, plateletcrit, mean platelet volume, platelet distribution width and the platelet large cell ratio compared to the controls. This finding suggests that the consumption of roasted yam bark flake may pose a toxicological risk to health
Ogbuabor̽ et al. (Sun,) studied this question.